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NATIONAL ASSEMBLY HANSARD 11 DECEMBER 2024 VOL 51 NO 18

PARLIAMENT OF ZIMBABWE

Wednesday, 11^th December, 2024

The National Assembly met at a Quarter-past Two o’clock p.m.

PRAYERS

(THE HON. DEPUTY SPEAKER in the Chair)

ANNOUNCEMENT BY THE HON. DEPUTY SPEAKER

NON-ADVERSE REPORT RECEIVED FROM THE PARLIAMENTARY LEGAL COMMITTEE

  THE HON. DEPUTY SPEAKER: I have to inform the House that I have received a Non-Adverse Report from the Parliamentary Legal Committee on Statutory Instruments, Number 141, 142, 143, 144, 145, 146, 147, 148 and 149 published in the Gazette during the month of August 2024.

  HON. MATEWU:  On a point of privilege Madam Speaker Ma’am.

THE HON. DEPUTY SPEAKER: I am sorry Hon. Matewu, today we do not accept points of privilege or points of order. It is a Wednesday today.

HON. MATEWU: I thought we suspended the rules yesterday.

THE HON. DEPUTY SPEAKER: The rules which were suspended yesterday are Standing Rules and Orders. We are not taking any point of privilege today. Hon. Matewu, this was a ruling from Hon. Speaker that on a Wednesday, we cannot take any point of order. So, the rulings by the Hon. Speaker are not suspended.

HON. MUSHORIWA: On a point of clarification Madam Speaker.

THE HON. DEPUTY SPEAKER: Clarifications on what?

HON. MUSHORIWA: On the pronouncements that you have just made.

THE HON. DEPUTY SPEAKER: We cannot discuss on that one Hon. Mushoriwa.  I am very sorry.

HON. MUSHORIWA: But it is clarification Madam Speaker.

THE HON. DEPUTY SPEAKER: Yes, we cannot discuss over announcements that were pronounced in the House.  We cannot discuss over them, I am very sorry about that.

MOTION

BUSINESS OF THE HOUSE

HON. TOGAREPI: Madam Speaker, I move that notice of presentation of Bill be stood over until Order Number I has been disposed of.

HON. C. MOYO: I second.

Motion put and agreed to.

MOTION

FINANCE BILL: BUDGET DEBATE

First Order read: Adjourned debate on motion that leave be granted to bring in a Finance Bill.

Question again proposed.

HON. KAITANO: INTRODUCTION: Thank you Madam Speaker Ma’am. I rise to present a report on the analysis of the vote allocation made to the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructural Development on behalf of my Chairman.            

• This report analyses vote allocations made to the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructural Development.
• Most of the country’s road networks have surpassed their design life. The aged road networks require funding for rehabilitation and reconstruction. There is a road maintenance backlog, inadequate funding for capital projects and operating expenditures, low levels of support from development partners, late disbursements of funding, late payment of contractors and skills flight.

Analysis of the 2025 Vote Allocation for the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructural Development

• The Ministry of Transport and Infrastructural Development was allocated 5% of the total National Budget, which is significantly lower than the 5% share it received in the 2024 budget. This allocation is too low given the current infrastructure deficit in the country, and that transport is a key enabler of the economy.
• The Treasury allocated the Ministry about ZIG 5,186 billion (excluding employment costs) against an ideal budget of ZIG 66, 694 billion (Table 1). This is only 8% of what the Ministry requires. However, the outstanding debts total ZIG 6, 9 billion. This exceeds the 2025 Budget allocation by ZIG 1, 7 billion. This means that if these amounts are not settled in the 2024 budget year, they will roll over to the 2025 fiscal year. This scenario, therefore, entails that the Ministry will not be able to implement the 2025 work plans if it chooses to settle its debts first.
• The Ministry of Transport and Infrastructural realised massive achievements in infrastructure development that brought a new look to Zimbabwe, for example the Harare-Masvingo-Beitbridge Road, City of Harare roads as well as the Mt. Hampden roads, just to mention just a few.
• These achievements require regular maintenance and servicing to promote their lifespan. The Committee is concerned with whether the Ministry’s 8% 2025 budget allocation against their ideal bid will compromise these already mentioned gains. Of importance is that the country set good standards through the Ministry of Transport with the successful completion of, for example SADC projects. Public expectations are very high come 2025.
• Under capital transfers- CMED was allocated ZIG 180, 000,000,00 earmarked towards the purchase of service vehicles. The Committee indicated that Treasury must increase the allocation for CMED considering that the parastatal is owed US$ 32,566,273.79 by Government ministries and departments.
• While investment in road infrastructure is essential, it is equally imperative to ensure the equitable allocation of resources to other modes of transport such as rail which received a comparatively lower allocation of ZIG 180,000,000.00. A strengthened rail system can significantly reduce the pressure on road networks by providing a cost-effective, sustainable and efficient alternative for bulk goods and passenger transport.
• The Committee stated that the allocations are insufficient given the scope of work that will be required. Of significance is to note that the airport infrastructure involved will make Zimbabwe a safe landing destination as Zimbabwe will be able to meet international aviation standards as stipulated by ICAO. The Committee also noted that the ZIG 180,000,000 allocated towards NRZ mainline infrastructure is too little as the rail transverse lines require serious commitment from the shareholder as its upgrade will reduce the flow of overloaded haulage trucks which in turn damage our roads.
• The Committee underscored the need to work towards the introduction of urban tolling systems (e-tolling). The Committee takes cognisance of the first urban tolling which will come hand in hand with the construction of Joshua M.N. Nkomo Road in Bulawayo which will have nine interchange bridges. The construction of this road will be funded under a loan. The Committee therefore implores that the Ministry must expedite the finalisation of this loan facility.
• Despite the Ministry having received 8% from the National Budget, the Government has increasingly focused on leveraging Public-Private Partnership (PPP) for road and infrastructural projects with some being funded under loans and concessions. It is interesting to note that the following projects among others have already been approved by Cabinet; Harare-Nyamapanda Road and Nyamapanda Border Post, Kwekwe-Nkayi-Lupane Road and Beitbridge-Bulawayo-Victoria Falls Road.

RECOMMENDATIONS

• Treasury must allocate more funds to the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructural Development earmarked towards the payment of outstanding contractual debts to various contractors and service providers which amounts to ZIG 6.9 billion as this amount is outrightly more than what the Ministry was allocated in the 2025 National Budget. Treasury must not make direct payments to contractors and service providers but should allow the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructural Development to pay the contractors and service providers as a way to enhance effective transparency and accountability.
• Treasury must ensure there is recapitalisation of parastatals such as Air Zimbabwe and NRZ through using Treasury bills since they now fall under Mutapa Investments. Furthermore, the Government of Zimbabwe should facilitate PPPs for NRZ with a Build, Own and Transfer (BOT) as a preferred PPP model for this entity.
• Treasury must avail more funds to NRZ as this will reduce the damage on our roads by overloaded haulage trucks and also must release co-payments required for NRZ to receive the loan facility from China.
• Ensure that all commercialised parastatals operate profitably without reliance on the fiscus.
• Timely disbursement of funds is very important so that the projects are implemented on time and to make sure that the budget is not eroded by inflation.
• Treasury must ensure that CMED is paid off all the amounts owed to it by Government ministries and departments as this will ensure the parastatal performs effectively and efficiently
• Prioritisation should be given to completion of major roads such as the Beitbridge-Harare-Chirundu, the Beitbridge-Bulawayo-Victoria Falls Highway, the Kwekwe-Nkayi-Lupane Road, Mbudzi Interchange and the other 40 roads earmarked for rehabilitation in the 2025 budget.
• Financing of the information management system of CAAZ should be prioritised for it to digitalise and move away from the use of the manual system.
• Need to increase the budget allocation for the acquisition of non-financial assets for the inland waters infrastructure and transportation programme so that it functions effectively and efficiently.

 HON. MASHONGANYIKA:       Introduction:

Thank you, Madam Speaker Ma’am. The year 2025 marks the final year of the National Development Strategy 1 and therefore, the budgeted allocations that have been provided to the Ministry of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare, Skills Audit and Development and as well as the Public Service Commission (PSC) are expected to take these three pivotal entities into finalising and taking stock of the deliverables they were expected to make over the five years.  The report aims to outline the implications of the budgetary provisions on the operational effectiveness and strategic initiatives of these three entities. Each Ministry plays a substantial role in Zimbabwe's pursuit of economic and social development and their allocated funds reflect their capacity to achieve the nation's Vision 2030 goals.

Ministry of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare Vote 3

In other countries, the Ministry of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare is divided into three ministries for example, Ministry of Public Service will be one Ministry, then a Labour Ministry and Social Welfare Ministry on its own.  The allocation for the Ministry of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare might seem sufficient if it is considered as one Ministry but if considered as three Ministries in one Ministry, then the allocation has to be three times more.

The Ministry of Public Service’s 2025 Budget Allocation for three Programmes

 

Name of Programme	2025 Vote Provision	Ideal Requirement	Shortfall	% Allocation	2024 Arrears
Programme 1: Policy & Admin	747 857 000	1 761 808 510	1 056 979 010	42%	7 600 873
Programme 2: Labour & Administration	951 950 000	1 900 116 808 510	1 043 903 800	50%	24 062 936
Programme 3: Social Welfare	8 797 235 000	19 924 407 790	11 134 747 390	44%	5 199 999 000
TOTAL	10 497 042 000	23 586 333 000	13 235 627 200	45%	5 231 662 809

 

Programme 1 on foreign travel expenses; the Ministry explained the need to undertake foreign trips for various programmes in line with the Ministry’s mandate.  The Ministry emphasised the need to ratify international conventions and attend international conferences to keep pace with world trends.    It is, therefore, critical that the shortfall of ZiG21 million be provided for.

Labour Administration Programme was allocated half of the amount requested for 2025.  The Ministry emphasised the need for more resources to procure vehicles and to enable labour inspections as well as the procurement of office furniture for Harare Labour Offices. 

The Social Welfare programme was allocated 44% of what the Ministry had requested.  Taking into consideration the needs of this programme, the allocation does not meet the requirements of BEAM, children in difficult circumstances and children in the streets.  Support to persons with disabilities, welfare of the elderly, drug and substance abuse, health assistance, food deficit mitigation programmes, harmonised social cash transfer all fall under the Social Welfare Programme which was allocated ZiG8.8 billion. 

The Committee conducted fact finding visits to selected schools on the implementation of BEAM.  The Committee noted that non-payment of BEAM funds has hampered the smooth operations of schools with arrears of ZiG4.8 billion owed to schools and ZIMSEC. The Ministry was allocated ZiG4 billion for 2025 financial which is not even enough to clear the ZiG4. 8 billion arrears from previous years. Treasury has been unable to release funds allocated for BEAM.  The Committee was informed that outstanding arrears put parents and school management under pressure fearing the risk of students not able to write their examinations. 

The Committee observed that release of allocated funds timeously is crucial to the continued success of the BEAM programme which seeks to support access to education for vulnerable children thereby promoting inclusivity by easing the financial barriers. Another challenge is that BEAM only caters for fees.  The beneficiaries of BEAM are children from very poor backgrounds and cannot afford to buy stationery, uniforms and other essentials.  Stakeholders urged Government to provide the whole package for BEAM students.  The Committee urges Treasury to consider reviewing upwards the allocation for 2025 BEAM with another ZiG4.8 billion to clear previous arrears then the allocated ZiG4 billion for 2025 will go towards ensuring the effective operation of schools.

Food deficit mitigation strategy was allocated ZiG813 million against an ideal requirement of ZiG5.7 billion and the Ministry was concerned that the country is under a state of national disaster following the El-Nino induced drought and a total of 6 215 775 people will continue to receive food aid until end of the peak hunger period in March 2025.  The Ministry also complained about lack of adequate funding for the transportation of grain to food distribution points.  Erratic disbursements from Treasury affected Ministry’s target performance in that grain transporters at some point stopped moving grain due to non-payment.  This affected grain distribution to most vulnerable members of the society.

The Ministry had requested ZiG1. 9 billion for Urban Cash for Cereals which is part of the Food Deficit Mitigation Strategy aimed at urban insecure households which constitutes about 35% of the urban population and nothing was provided for in the 2025 National Budget towards that regard.  The Ministry indicated that 1.5 million beneficiaries had been targeted. 

Recommendations for the Ministry of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare

The Committee therefore recommends that:

The budget must be pro-poor and if it cannot be so it negates social protection. Social protection funding should be predictable and reliable to address the problems of children living and working in the streets and begging by persons with disabilities.  It is said, funding social protection is an investment that generates returns in terms of economic growth. The Committee, therefore, recommends that arrears for grain transportation and resources for cash for cereal be provided before 2024 ends so that the Ministry of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare starts on a clean balance in the 2025 financial year.

• Treasury should match budget disbursements with actual cash releases for programmes implementation to work.
• Government should pay ZIPAM, PSMAS and NSSA for services offered. The Committee was informed that Government is the major defaulter in paying NSSA and PSMAS contributions from civil servants.
• Treasury should prioritise the release of funds to clear BEAM arrears amounting to ZiG 4.8 billion by December 2024, before allocating the additional ZiG 4 billion budgeted for 2025. Furthermore, the Committee urges Treasury to ensure that disbursements for BEAM are prioritised and released within the first month of each school term.

PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION VOTE 28

The Commission’s 2025 Budget Allocations 

The Public Service Commission was allocated a total of ZiG 10.724 billion against a total budget of ZiG 276.4 billion.  The ZiG 9.110 billion of the Commission’s budget will go towards compensation of employees, leaving ZiG1.614 for goods and acquisition of non-financial assets.

Outstanding Employer Contributions

Item PSMAS	Outstanding Amount ZiG 290 541 509
NSSA	320 557 489
GEMS	3 275 171
PENSION FUND	915 298 369
TOTAL	1 529 672 540

 

The Public Service Commission indicated that the arrears amounting to ZiG1.5 billion have a huge implication on provision of medical insurance to public servants, social insurance cover as well as building the required assets of the Pension Fund and implementation of the ongoing projects.

The 2025 budget indicated the Government’s commitment to compensate pensioners whose contributions lost value due to the 2008 currency reforms and proposed an equivalent of US$25 million for public servants and US$5 million for the private sector.

Table: PSC 2025 PROGRAMMES ALLOCATION

Program	Ideal Budget	Allocated Budget	Shortfall
Corporate Services	2 618 207 750	418 597 000	2 199 610 750
Human Capital Development	1 158 788 335	131 853 00	854 544 335
Pay and Benefits Development	10 688 903 196	10 001 132 000	687 771 196
TOTAL	14 465 899 281	10 723 973 000	3 741 926 281

 

            PSC Recommendations:

The Committee, therefore, recommends the following:

• Upward review of the budget expenditure limits of ZiG1, 482 billion for non-wage recurrent expenses and $131 million for non-financial assets to meet the necessary funding for the identified strategic initiatives.
• Treasury to allocate additional resources to the Public Service Commission to allow the Commission to clear arrears amounting to ZiG1 529 672 540 and also to set aside some funds for review of remuneration framework for the 2025 financial year.
• The Government to improve the remuneration of public servants as a way to address the problem of brain drain of critical skills such as medical doctors, nurses, teachers, among other skills.
• Treasury to grant an exemption from the suspension of import duty for buses for the Public Service Commission. This measure would enable the Commission to enhance its bus fleet capacity while also waiting for local bus manufacturers to scale up their production and supply.

Ministry of Skills Audit and Development Vote 30

The Skills Audit and Development Ministry is mandated to transform the skills development ecosystem to stimulate and sustain inclusive economic growth, reduce poverty and improve living standards for all Zimbabweans. 

Ministry of Skill Audit and Development’s 2025 Budget Allocation

The Ministry was allocated ZiG153 175 000 for the 2025 financial year.  The Ministry faces a substantial funding gap, especially for capital projects, goods and services and skills development programmes.  The allocation for the National Comprehensive Skills Audit is insufficient, leaving other critical programmes, such as skills fairs and policy formulation underfunded.  Plans to establish provincial offices are hampered by inadequate funding for furniture, equipment, and operational needs.       

The allocation for the two programmes under the Ministry of Skills Audit and Development are as follows:

Programme 1: Policy and Administration   ZiG94 955 000

Programme 2: Skills Audit                                    ZiG58 220 000

Total                                                               ZiG153 175 000

Priorities for 2025

The Ministry of Skills Audit and Development complained that the total of ZiG58 million allocated for goods and services under Policy and Administration is not enough, taking into consideration that the Ministry is fairly new and is still in the process of setting up.  The requested amount of ZiG106.3 million was meant to buy at least ten vehicles and office furniture.  The Ministry complained that meaningful success can only be achieved once adequate resources are availed.  Of importance to note is that the Ministry is still to set up a communication and advocacy department which will be responsible for raising awareness on the importance of skills development.

Skills Audit Programme was also severely underfunded under goods and services.  The Ministry requested ZiG205.5 million and was allocated ZiG41.9 million.  The Ministry of Skills Audit and Development explained that the ZiG41.9 million allocated will just be enough for one activity leaving other programmes and activities with no budgetary support.  Other Skills Development Programmes/Activities will require an additional budgetary support of ZiG89. 4 million.

Recommendations - Ministry of Skills Audit and Development

The Committee recommends for the upward review of the budgetary allocation for the Ministry of Skills Audit and Development to carry out skills audits, standardising vocational training and establishing centres of excellence.

The Committee further recommends that resources for the establishment of Centres of Excellence be prioritised given that over 2.2 million youths are not in education, training or employment.

The budget allocation for the Ministry of Skills Audit and Development needs to be reviewed upwards to enable the Ministry to decentralise its operations.  Noting that the Ministry is fairly new, resources are needed for the acquisition of furniture, office equipment and other tools of trade.

CONCLUSION:

The fiscal allocations for 2025 pose significant operational limitations on the Ministry of Skills Audit and Development, the Ministry of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare, as well as the Public Service Commission. Though they have been earmarked as crucial drivers of national progress, the budgetary constraints they face could impede their capacity to bolster economic and social transformation. Continuous monitoring and a dynamic fiscal approach may be necessary to bridge these budgetary gaps and to ensure the fulfilment of Zimbabwe’s Vision 2030 aspirations. Thank you Hon. Speaker, I so submit.

HON: M. ZIYAMBI:

INTRODUCTION:

The recommendations align with the NDS1 and the 2024 budget thrust of THEME: “CONSOLIDATING ECONOMIC TRANSFORMATION”. The committee analysed the policy issues, grant budgetary allocations, and analysis by Ministry programmes. Lastly, it analysed allocations made to the Ministry’s parastatals and corporations.

FUNCTIONS OF THE MINISTRY

In order to deliver on its mandate, the MINISTRY OF YOUTH EMPOWERMENT, DEVELOPMENT AND VOCATIONAL TRAINING is charged with the following functions:

• Develop and implement policies, programmes, projects and strategies for youth socio-economic empowerment;
• Promote youth employment creation, entrepreneurship, skills and talent development;
• Mainstream the participation of youth in national development;
• Develop and implement relevant curriculum for both National Youth Service and Vocational Training Skills; and
• Equip youth with technical and vocational skills for employment creation and self-sustenance.

In line with its mandate the Ministry’s focus is on programmes and projects that address the challenges among the youths. The challenges affecting youths include but are not limited to:

• Abuse of drugs and substances among young people.
• Inadequate vocational training and empowerment opportunities.
• Low representation of youth in decision-making and development processes.

In addition to the above challenges the Ministry and its parastatals are incapacitated in various ways that include lack of mobility, inadequate tools of trade and low staffing levels.

 

BASIS FOR 2024 BUDGET BIDS

In developing the budget bid for the year 2024, the Ministry focused on:

1. Increasing employment opportunities and improving standards of living for the youth and community by establishing production, incubation and entrepreneurship hubs and implementing empowerment projects in provinces and districts.
2. Reducing youth delinquency thus reducing drug and substance abuse among the young people through the creation of Interact Centres throughout the country. Resultantly, this will lead to increased safe space for interaction, cross fertilization of ideas and improved networking among the youths, including recreation and skills development.
3. Promoting Youth Financial Inclusion by capitalising EmpowerBank and turning it into a developmental commercial bank offering various products under one roof, including but not limited to micro finance, grants, concessionary loans, venture capital and commercial lending to youths in particular, and the generality of citizens.
4. Promoting skills development by establishing state of the art Vocational Training Centres in all districts.
5. Capitalisation of Youth Development Fund which will provide grants or any other financial support to youth projects considered appropriate depending on need.
6. Development of Youth and vocational training skills which will ultimately address the youth quota needs and promotion of standard training of the young people.
7. Acquisition of motor vehicles, bikes and communication equipment for all Ministry programmes to enhance service delivery.
8. Decentralisation of Zimbabwe Youth Council operations to reach out to socially and economically marginalised young people across the country.
9. Acquisition of office furniture and equipment for Provincial and District offices.

PARASTATALS AND CORPORATE BODIES UNDER THE MINISTRY

The MINISTRY OF YOUTH EMPOWERMENT, DEVELOPMENT AND VOCATIONAL TRAINING is responsible for the following parastatals:

1. Zimbabwe Youth Council (ZYC);
2. EmpowerBank.
3. POLICY ISSUE THAT AFFECTS THE SECTOR
4. The proposed increased fee for passports is going to negatively affect youths who want to secure scholarships for studying in other states, youths who want to be engaged in cross border trading, youths who want to compete in sports and attend international sporting tournaments.
5. The NDS targets 20% proportion of youth involved in decision making and development processes in 2024 and this budget is inadequate to support such a target.
6. The VTCs should be modernised and receive upgrading in terms of infrastructure but the budget will mean only a few VTCs will be supported, which goes against the mantra of leaving no place and no one behind.
7. Cabinet directed the various ministries to do more in combatting drug abuse and this means that there is extra responsibility on the Ministry of youth but with this allocation it means not all provinces and districts will have adequate programmes and activities, meaning some youths will be left behind.
8. The proposed increase in toll fees is going to increase the cost of transportation which will negatively affect the new youths who were now transporting their goods, e.g. agricultural produce to markets. Sudden hikes like on toll fees need to be reconsidered with increases being done gradually and being explained to citizens so that there is buy in and understanding of why there are such increases.
9. Freezing of civil services posts reduces the possibility of youths being employed.
10. BUDGETARY ALLOCATIONS

The Ministry submitted an ideal bid of ZWL 1.7 trillion and was allocated   ZWL 210 billion of the request for its TWO programmes namely:

1. Policy and Administration
2. Youth Development and Empowerment

This means 12.37% of the ideal budget has been financed and

The committee recommends an additional combined ZW of  $1.5 Trillion to effectively finance the two programmes.

Summary of 2024 Budget bid against Treasury allocation by programme

PROGRAMME	BUDGET BID (ZWL$)	TREASURY ALLOCATION (ZWL$)	PERCENTAGE ALLOCATION % (B/Ax100)
	A	B	C
Policy and Administration	872 billion	100 billion	11.49
Youth Development	827 billion	109 billion	13.28
Total	1.7 trillion	210 billion	12.36

 

Below is a table showing the Ministry Budget Bids for the years 2022 to 2024 compared to allocations for the same period.

Item	YEAR
	2024	2023	2022
Budget Bid	1.7 trillion	339 billion	75 billion
Treasury Allocation	210 billion	25 billion	7 billion
Variance/shortfall	1.5 trillion	314 billion	68 billion
Allocation as percentage of bid	12.37%	7.53%	10.32%
Allocation as percentage of National Budget	0.35%	0.56%	0.81%

 

Trend analysis of Ministry Budget Allocation over a period of five (5) years expressed as a percentage of National Budget.

Year	2020	2021	2022	2023	2024
Percent Allocation	0.50%	0.81%	0.80%	0.56%	0.35%

 

1. ANALYSIS BY PROGRAMME
2. POLICY AND ADMINISTRATION PROGRAMME

The ideal budget bid for the Policy and Administration programme was ZWL 872 billion and Treasury allocated it ZWL 100 billion. This entails that Treasury finances 11,50% of the ideal budget.

The committee recommends an additional ZWL$772 billion mainly to finance activities in the Policy and Administration programme.

Ministry Budget allocation Trend Analysis by Program over a five (5) year period (2020 – 2024)

Programme	2020 Allocation	2021 Allocation	2022 Allocation	2023 Allocation	2024 Allocation
	%	%	%	%	%
Policy and Administration	21.07	22.67	20.23	32.51	48.0
Youth Development and Empowerment	54.33	53.13	53.44	45.75	52.0
Sport and Recreation Promotion and Development	17.89	14.86	17.22	13.45
Arts and Culture Promotion and Development	6.71	9.34	9.11	8.28
Total	100	100	100	100	100

 

SUB-PROGRAMME ANALYSIS

PROGRAMME  1: POLICY AND ADMINISTRATION	IDEAL BUDGET	ALLOCATED BUDGET	% BUDGET COVER	REQUEST
	ZWL$BILLION	ZWL$BILLION		ZWL$BILLION
Sub-Programme 1: Minister's & Permanent Secretary's Office		10,958,482,000
Sub-Programme 2: Finance & Administration		23,329,254,000
Sub-Programme 3: Human Resource Management		20,407,228,000
Sub-Programme 4: Internal Audit		9,282,527,000
Sub-Programme 5: Legal Services		7,531,886,000
Sub-Programme 6: Provincial & District Administration		16,563,119,000
Sub-Programme 7: Business Development, implementation and Communication		12,235,724,000
TOTAL	872,438060818	100,308,220,000	11,50	772,129840818

 

2. YOUTH DEVELOPMENT AND EMPOWERMENT PROGRAMME

The ideal budget bid for the Youth Development and Empowerment programme was ZWL$ 827 billion, and Treasury allocated it ZWL$ 109 billion. This entails that 13.29% of the ideal budget is financed by Treasury.

The committee recommends an additional ZWL$717 billion to create opportunities for employment and enhance youth participation in national development programmes.

SUB-PROGRAMME ANALYSIS

PROGRAMME  2: YOUTH DEVELOPMENT AND EMPLOYMENT CREATION	IDEAL BUDGET	ALLOCATED BUDGET	% BUDGET COVER	REQUEST
	ZWL$BILLION	ZWL$BILLION		ZWL$BILLION
Sub-programme 1: Youth Development		55,253,186,000
Sub-programme 2: Vocational Training and Skills Development		54,645,854,000
TOTAL	827, 178758100	109,899,040,000	13,29	717,279718100

 

Vocational Training and Skills Development

Construction of New Vocational Training Centres

In order to increase the number of youths enrolled at the centres for skills development. The target for 2024 was to establish 8 vocational training centres in districts currently without. However, with the current allocation only 1 VTC can be constructed out of the 8.

Item Description	Bid ZWL$	Treasury Allocation ZWL$	Deficit ZWL$
Construction of 8 VTCs	78 billion	6 billion	71 billion
Upgrading and Retooling	73 billion	Nil	73 billion
Total		6 billion

 

Upgrading and Retooling of Old VCTs

Infrastructure in most centres is very old and dilapidated and thus, it is not attracting youths to enroll at such institutions. In addition, the training machinery and equipment is no longer in tandem with current developments. This is compelling replacement or upgrading. In most VTCs the training machinery and equipment is not even availability.

 

BID	Treasury Allocation	Deficit
Z$73 billion	0	Z$73 billion

 

1. ANALYSIS BY PARASTATALS

Parastatals Budget Allocation as a Percentage of Ministry Budget: Trend Analysis Over a Five (5) Year Period (2020– 2024)

Parastatal/Board Corporate	2020	2021	2022	2023	2024
	% of Ministry Budget	% of Ministry Budget	% of Ministry Budget	% of Ministry Budget	% of Ministry Budget
Zimbabwe Youth Council	3.84	3.10	2.97	3.10	4.66
EmpowerBank	15.14	7.02	12.74	7.02	6

 

Budget Allocation for year 2024 compared to year 2023 allocation by Economic Classification.

EXPENDITURE ITEM	ALLOCATION (2024) ZWL$		ALLOCATION (2023) ZWL$
Salaries	85 billion	40.80%	8 billion	34.01%
Recurrent (Goods and Services)	94, Billion	44.93	8 billion	33.04%
Capital Expenditure	30 billion	14.27%	8 billion	32.95%
Total	210 billion	100%	25 billion	100%

 

Observations and Recommendations

• The budget allocated to the ministry allows for the construction of only one new VTC. Additionally, it is concerning to observe that no funds were allocated for the refurbishment and retooling of existing VCTs. However, considering the number of idle youths i.e. in 2022, a total of 183 584 pupils set for O Level exams - only 53 169 passed. This means that 130 415 youths are out there and need training in these VTCs.
• More funds to be allocated towards capitalisation of Empower Bank. There is need for more funds to ensure compliance. Capital adequacy deadline for compliance is 31 December 2023.
• Mobility of youth ward development coordinators- motor bikes etc. Nothing was allocated towards procurement cars and motor bikes.

Conclusion

While we are advocating for additional funding, we expect the Ministry and its parastatals to work within the allocations and provide the following possible strategies;

With the Youth population representing about 72% of the total population, it is critical that our national budgeting is cognisant of the importance of adequately resourcing programmes for the Youth. Youth programmes have been either neglected or underfunded, thus perpetuating the vulnerability of this special group of the population. As Government, addressing aspects negatively impacting the Youth alone, would imply dealing with 72% of the challenges affecting our population. Therefore, as the Committee responsible for YOUTH EMPOWERMENT, DEVELOPMENT AND VOCATIONAL TRAINING, we implore the Executive to ensure the National Budget is youth sensitive. In conclusion, we implore Treasury to increase the allocation to the Ministry of Youth Empowerment, Development and Vocational Training. Youth are the labour force and the biggest market for goods thus need to be mainstreamed in the economy. Their energy, creativity and innovation are key attributes that need to be leveraged upon for the country to attain its vision and for Zimbabwe to become an influential player in the global development in light of the Sustainable Development Goals. I thank you.

          HON. CHIWADZA:

INTRODUCTION

Thank you Madam Speaker Ma’am. The Portfolio Committee on Sport, Recreation, Arts and Culture conducted an analysis of the 2025 National Budget, focusing on its alignment with the Ministry’s mandate and national priorities. In the fiscal year 2025, the Ministry’s budget allocation received significant investments aimed at promoting talent development, increasing access to recreational facilities, and preserving our rich cultural heritage.

The Committee undertook rigorous scrutiny of the budgetary allocations and engaged with key stakeholders, including governmental departments, non-governmental organisations, and community representatives to ensure a holistic understanding of the sector's needs and accomplishments. Our analysis is informed by data-driven insights and grounded in the principles of transparency and accountability. This report evaluates and provides recommendations to ensure its effective implementation in line with Vision 2030 and the National Development Strategy 1 (NDS1).  

PRIORITIES FOR THE MINISTRY OF SPORT, RECREATION, ARTS AND CULTURE

• Drafting of National Language Bill
• Standardisation of sport and recreation facilities
• Promotion of Cultural and Creative events
• Safeguarding of intangible cultural heritage
• Arts and sport infrastructure development
• Nhanga/Gota/Ixhiba cultural dialogues
• Supporting of Team Zimbabwe
• Coordination of health and fitness programmes
• Implementation of mass participation programmes

ANALYSIS OF THE 2024 NATIONAL BUDGET

Out of the total budget of ZiG $2 226 267 840 ($2.2 billion), the Ministry of Sports, Recreation, Arts and Culture received a total allocation of ZWL$888.37 million, accounting for 0.34% of the total budget significantly improving from 0.23% in the 2024 Budget.

Programme	Budget Allocation	Budget        Bid	% Variance
Programme 1: Policy & Administration	234,741,000	536,998,280	(302,257,280)
Programme 2: Sport and Recreation Promotion and Development	274,897,000	1,171,156,560	(896,259,560)
Programme 3: Arts and Culture Promotion and Development	378,749,000	518,113,000	(139,364,000)
Grand Total	888,387,000	2,226,267,840	1,337,880,840)

          In real terms using the current official bank rate of US$1 to ZiG$25.45, the Ministry’s 2024-5 budget allocation is effectively around US$24.4 million which is an improvement in value when compared to the 2023-4 Budget approximate value of US$14.64 million.

          This allocation aims to support the following areas:  

1. Sporting Infrastructure Development – Focused on upgrading stadiums and training facilities.
2. Arts and Culture Promotion– Supporting cultural events and preserving heritage sites.
3. Youth Empowerment– Promoting initiatives for talent development in sports and the creative arts.
4. Community Engagement– Enhancing access to recreational activities at grassroots levels through devolution funds.

Committee Observations and Recommendations

The Committee commends the government for prioritising this sector but noted several gaps:  

The Committee noted that the Ministry is expected to host State occasions such as Heroes, Independence Day and Defence Forces Day, as well as other events like UNESCO and Culture Month commemorations, and have provincial and district offices participate. However, the budget for these events is insufficient. In addition, the Ministry is expected to organise Nhanga/Gota/Ixhiba programmes overseen by the First Lady. The Ministry's budget is expected to arrange appropriate entertainment from artists and sports figures to ensure the success of these events. 

The Committee recommends that the Ministry of Finance should explore alternative funding sources or create special funding to adequately support these important cultural and national events. For example, the Ministry could seek sponsorship from local businesses or secure grants from cultural organisations to supplement their budget. They could also consider allocating a portion of the National Budget specifically for cultural celebrations to ensure they are properly funded and executed.

Sport and Recreational Infrastructure Development: 

The Committee noted that approximately ZiG 300 million is required for the completion of the National Sports Stadium renovations. This will provide a world-class venue for major sporting events, boosting sports tourism and international reputation. In addition, ZiG 30 million is required for coordinating the construction of a soccer pitch and its amenities at Nembudziya Centre, Gokwe in Midlands Province where the 2025 Independence celebration will be held.

The construction and establishment of a Regional Sports Museum and the construction/refurbishment of multipurpose sport and leisure facilities in provinces around the country will also be required to improve access to sports facilities for all inhabitants while encouraging a health and wellness culture. These investments in sports infrastructure would help not just players and spectators, but also the economy by increasing tourism and creating jobs in the sports business. 

The 10% withholding tax on sports betting winnings is a welcome step. However, a formal mechanism to reinvest these revenues into sports development is absent. The Committee recommends that the Treasury should establish the Sports Betting Tax Fund specifically for sporting development. Ring-fencing the revenues from the 10% sports betting tax to create a fund dedicated to the development of sports infrastructure, athlete welfare, and youth sports academies.  

Lack of funding for capital projects

The Treasury's lack of funding for capital projects in all parastatals could hinder economic growth and development, leading to talent exploitation and a lack of inclusivity for those not in urban areas. This could also widen the infrastructure gap between urban and rural areas, exacerbating inequality and hindering overall economic progress. The budget only included employment costs and board fees. 

The Committee recommends increasing Treasury funding for talent development projects, including training facilities and coaching programmes, to ensure long-term sustainability and economic growth. The Zimbabwe National Boxing Control Board requires 10 gym facilities in all provinces, however a minimal of at least two facilities should be considered for funding by the Treasury.

Introduction of Tax Relief and Incentives to corporations and individuals

 Treasury should offer tax incentives and tax reliefs to private sector organisations and individuals who sponsor or support sport, recreation, arts and culture. Tax breaks for businesses can further incentivise economic growth and job creation. The Committee noted that Minerva Risk Advisers recently sponsored the Zimbabwe Chess Federation, Sakunda Holdings is assisting with the National Sports Stadium renovations, and Coca-Cola was a prominent sponsor of the Jikinya Traditional Dance Festival and the Under 17 and Under 20 Football Tournaments. In addition, Better Brands Gold secured a sponsorship deal with the Zimbabwe Football Association (ZIFA) to become the official kit sponsor for the Warriors' campaign in the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualification.

Due to the gap in funding for some of these activities, partnering with the private sector organisations and business community funding mechanisms can sustain these events and contribute to the growth of the arts and sports sectors. This could be achieved by investing in talent development programmes and incentivising sports and cultural activities.  Treasury should consider providing grants or subsidies to businesses in order to bridge the infrastructure deficit and financial burden and stimulate economic growth.

The Ministry of Sports, Arts, Recreation and Culture, which was split from the Ministry of Youth Empowerment and is now a separate Ministry, requires additional funds for effective administration, as well as the purchase of office equipment, tools of trade, and mobility vehicles to simplify operations and improve administrative performance. A reduced vehicle fleet of seven across the country does not allow staff at the Head Office, Provincial and District offices to carry out their jobs efficiently. This increased financing would allow the Ministry to strengthen its ability to organise and sponsor athletic events, as well as promote cultural activities. It would also make it possible for programmes and initiatives to successfully reach athletes, artists and cultural institutions all around the country.

With increased funding, the Ministry of Sports and Culture could also expand its reach and impact by reaching out to marginalised communities and promoting diversity and inclusivity in sports and cultural activities. This would not only benefit the individuals involved but also contribute to the overall development and enrichment of the nation's cultural landscape. By investing in these areas, the Ministry can help foster a sense of national pride and unity while also creating opportunities for growth and success in the sports and cultural sectors. 

The Committee commends the availing of US$1 million to the Zimbabwe Men's Football team, which recently qualified for the 2025 African Cup of Nations tournament to be held in Morocco. However, the 2025 budget has not fully incorporated the various teams representing Zimbabwe in international events, with the 2025 AUSC Region 5 games to be held in Namibia requiring significant funding for the country to field various athletes to compete at the competition. Lack of funding for the National Youth and Paralympic Games removes a platform for young athletes to represent Zimbabwe in international competitions and showcase their talents on a global stage.

Without proper financial support, these talented athletes may miss out on valuable opportunities to gain experience and exposure at an international level. It is imperative for the government to prioritise funding for all national sports teams to ensure continued success and development in the sporting arena.

Parastatals such as the Zimbabwe National Boxing and Wrestling Control Board (ZNBWCB), National Gallery of Zimbabwe, National Arts Council of Zimbabwe (NACZ) and the Sports and Recreation Commission have all decentralised institutions in all ten provinces of the nation and they lack adequate office space, furniture, computers and other essential trade instruments such as operable vehicles. This lack of resources has hindered the efficiency and productivity of the decentralised institutions, making it difficult for them to effectively carry out their duties.

Despite these challenges, the dedicated staff and officials continue to work tirelessly to promote and develop the sports and arts throughout the country. With the support of government funding and donations from the public, they hope to improve their facilities and equipment in order to better serve the athletes and communities in each province. The Committee recommends that Treasury increase funding for these parastatals in order to achieve excellent performance.

Conclusion 

The 2025 National Budget allocation for the Ministry of Sport, Recreation, Arts and Culture in Zimbabwe is a significant investment in the development and enhancement of these vital sectors. The allocation of ZiG 888.8 million (approximately $24.7 million) reflects the government's commitment to fostering a vibrant and inclusive environment for these sectors. The increase in the Ministry's bid to the allocated budget proportion signifies an important step in the right direction, allowing for the implementation of new programmes, facility upgrades and more impactful support for local artists and athletes. This investment not only supports the growth of these industries but also fosters national pride and identity.

However, it is crucial to address the challenges of inadequate office furniture and tools of trade, equitable access to recreational and cultural centres, and fewer vehicles for effective monitoring and evaluation to ensure the long-term success of these initiatives. By addressing the identified shortfalls and continuing to invest in these sectors, we can build a more resilient and prosperous future for all Zimbabweans. As we navigate the evolving landscape of sport, recreation, arts, and culture, this report underscores the necessity of continued investment in sporting and cultural infrastructures to foster an inclusive and vibrant environment for all Zimbabweans.

We trust that the findings and recommendations contained herein will guide future policy decisions and contribute to the sustainable development of our sector.

HON. MATEWU: Thank you Madam Speaker Ma’am.  Introduction

The Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Information, Media and Broadcasting Services plays an oversight role over the Ministry of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services, Vote 20 and the Zimbabwe Media Commission, Vote 39. The Ministry is responsible for the dissemination of information locally and globally to uphold and promote Zimbabwe’s founding values, identity and interests under Programme 1 – Policy and Administration and Programme 2 – Information and Publicity. The Zimbabwe Media Commission provides for the right of members of the public to access information held by public entities for transparency and accountability and guarantees freedom of the media and that of expression.

 Parastatals Administered by the Ministry    

• Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe (BAZ)
• Zimbabwe Film and Television School for Southern Africa (ZIFTESSA)
• Transmedia
• Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation
• New Ziana

 

 VOTE 20 – OVERVIEW OF THE MINISTRY OF INFORMATION, PUBLICITY AND BROADCASTING SERVICES

• The Ministry has a budget allocation of $ZWG 433 148 000 for the year 2024 which was further revised from a provisional allocation of ZWG 221 102 000, a 51% increase. Employment costs constitute 13%, use of goods and services 49%, current grants 4%, acquisition of assets 21% and capital grants 14%. Additional allocations are notable on employment costs, use of goods and services, acquisition of non-financial assets and current with nothing added under capital grants for the Ministry’s parastatals - BAZ, ZBC, Transmedia, New Ziana and the Film School.

 ANALYSIS OF PUBLIC ENTERPRISES AND PARASTATALS/GRANT AIDED

INSTITUTIONS – CAPITAL GRANT

Grant Aided Institutions	2025 Budget bid	Provisional Allocation: ET	Financing gap	% GAP
BAZ	1 500 024 667	30 000 000	1 470 024 667	98
Transmedia	80 973 020	8 000 000	72 973 020	90
ZBC	842 490 000	4 000 000	827 490 000	98
Film School	8 511 000	1 527 000 000	4 511 000	53
The New Ziana	14 831 858	3 000 000	11 831 858	80

 

 BROADCASTING AUTHORITY OF ZIMBABWE (BAZ)

  BAZ is at the core of the digitisation project in Zimbabwe. Of importance to note is that Zimbabwe is the only country lagging behind in terms of digitisation since the year 2015. The nation has managed to install only 18 out of the required 48 transmitters due to funding limitations yearly. With the current funding rate and time taken to complete the project, the nation is at risk of installing obsolete technology before project conclusion. Sadly, the project has a debt burden of US$ 4,3 million to Huawei and the monthly obligation of US$77 706 to Eutelsat for satellite services.

Expenditure item	Budget Bid	2025 Budget Allocation	Variance (bid budget allocation	%variance
BAZ	1 500 024 667	30 000 000	1 470 024 667	98

 

  TRANSMEDIA

   Transmedia is responsible for transmitting radio and television signal nationwide. The nation however continues to lag behind in terms of digitisation of this agenda to expand coverage, reduce transmission downtime and enhance service reliability cannot be achieved. Out of a bid of ZWG 86.9 million, the entity was allocated ZWG 8 million. The allocation for 2024 initially worth USD$200 000 became USD$40 000 when disbursed and could only purchase equipment for installation of community radio stations. The ensuing budget was meant to target coverage expansion especially for rural and undeserved areas ensuring inclusivity. There was a great need for infrastructure upgrades, for example vehicle fleet replacement, maintaining access roads and construction of new offices in various areas to enhance service delivery. The budget does not allow the modernisation of transmission equipment and infrastructure, which area is necessary to improve network efficiency and signal quality.

Expenditure item	Budget bid	2024 Budget allocation	Variance (Bid allocation)	% Variance
Transmedia	80 973 020	8 000 000	72 973 020	90%

 

NEW ZIANA

New Ziana produces community newspapers in various parts of the country in line with the devolution policy.  Due to the budgetary constraints, the organisation is considering a strategic shift from print media to digital channels for news distribution. This will reduce print and distribution costs but will largely affect the market niche, most importantly the marginalised citizens in rural areas. The organisation is grossly understaffed especially at provincial level and lack of vehicle fleet for mobility. 

Expenditure item	Budget bid	2025 Budget allocation	Variance (bid allocation)
New Ziana	14 831 858	3 000 000	80 %

 

 ZIMBABWE FILM AND TELEVISION OF SOUTHERN AFRICA

         The film school is the sole training institute in the country, which trains and provide the nation with professionally qualified film and television personnel. The Film School is in dire need for retooling and recapitalisation for the justification of its existence. The Film School is the least funded of the Ministry’s parastatals but is expected to parcel out graduates in content creation.

Expenditure Item	Budget bid 2025	Budget allocation 2025	Variance (bid –allocation)
ZIFTESSA	8 511 000	4 000 000	53%

 

   ZIMBABWE BROADCASTING CORPORATION

   ZBC is the national broadcaster and was allocated approximately 2% of the required bid, leaving a funding gap of 98%.  ZBC faces several viability issues due to underfunding and ageing infrastructure which undermines its operational capabilities. The issue of outdated technology results in reduced quality and coverage limitations thereby hindering ZBC’s ability to meet modern broadcasting standards. The limited fleet and in other areas, absence of these impedes ZBC’s capability to cover events nationwide, compromising dissemination of information. ZBC is unable to create or acquire quality content essential for relevant and competitive programming.

Expenditure Item	Budget bid 2025	Budget Allocation 2025	Variance (bid allocation)	%Variance
ZBC	842 490 000	4 000 000	827 490 000	98

                              

 

 PRIORITIES FOR 2025 BASED ON ALLOCATIONS

 

 Ministry of Information Publicity and Broadcasting Services

• Completion of the Digitisation project Government programmes coverage
• Devolution (renovation of offices, acquiring more office space, vehicles, etc) – the Ministry cannot devolve its services to ensure national coverage with this budget
• Finalisation of procurement of the Public Address System

BAZ

• Digitisation Project

 

Transmedia Corporation

• Vehicle purchase for management of transmission sites
• Air conditioning units/systems for transmission sites
• Power systems for back up and surges
• Spares for the 18 transmission sites

ZBC

• Content Creation – content hubs for content generation facilities

Film School

• Retooling and recapitalisation

New Ziana

• Recruitment of staff – unfreezing of the recruitment process

  COMMITTEE OBSERVATIONS

The Committee calls for deliberate commitment by Treasury to fund the digitisation project. Digitisation of ZBC is key for image building and uplift. The snail pace implementation of digitisation project leads to violation of Sections 61 and 62 of the Constitution, which provides for freedom of expression and freedom of the media and access to information.  BAZ requires software upgrades to minimise disruptive interruptions of systems, improve radio quality and coverage. The Broadcasting Services Amendment Bill is an opportunity for the corporation to generate revenue through mandatory radio licencing.

ZBC is an institution of national interest and being a security centre, requires modern ICT systems and equipment.

Radio transmitters for community radio stations implies less radio services coverage and less communities participating in the mainstream economy, hence some citizens are left behind.

Spares for the ageing radio and TV network reaction, operational vehicles required to attend to faults and swift to transmission faults and installation

The institution continues to lose staff and its mobility has been affected by the failure to purchase vehicles for operations. 

The shift from print to digital platform is likely to result in loss of some readers due to cost of accessing digital platforms.

     COMMITTTEEE RECOMMENDATIONS

The Ministry of Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion should disburse funds timeously so that the Ministry can fully execute its mandate and to also guard against possible exchange losses.

The digitisation project is foreign currency intensive hence the need to allocate funds as such. The digitisation project will allow community radio stations to become fully operational and cover more areas.

There is need for an increase in the bids for capital expenditure to purchase office equipment, vehicles, et cetera for the Ministry’s efficient service delivery across the country.

The Ministry of Finance should heed to the call for procurement of vehicles, an outcry from the Ministry of Information and its entities. This will assist to curb cost of hiring and facilitate for the fulfilment of the mandate.

There is need to prioritise funding for the purchase of modern ICT equipment in the media sector as the sector greatly relies on them for operations.

Zimbabwe Media Commission

  An independent commission whose purpose is the entrenchment of a democratic society; the Commission regulates media industry whose functions is to uphold, promote and develop freedom of the media, to promote and enforce good practices and ethics in the media and to promote fair competition and diversity in the media.  

       The Commission was allocated ZWG 144 193 000. The amount falls short of the Commission’s requirement due to non- disbursement of the additional ZWG 34 million budget. This will then push some non- realised outputs to the year 2025, otherwise the Commission is appealing for ZWG 40 948 826.

 Commission’s Priorities for 2025

Reaching out to the grassroots

Training of Information Officers

Recruitment of staff

Procurement of vehicles

Acquisition of furniture for regional offices

Observations and recommendations by the Committee 

The Commission was content with the allocation, save for the

outstanding ZWG 40 948 826 from the additional budget to clear programmes for 2024.

The Commission will not be able to develop the online

accreditation system, open two additional regional offices and extend or renovate the ZMC House to create more space.

 Conclusion

 The Ministry of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services plays a pivotal role in the dissemination of information, promotion of public communication and image building for the country. However, the reduction on capital grants and expenditure bids is most likely to compromise efficient service delivery by the Ministry and enterprises under it. There is a greater risk of non-completion of the digitisation programme due to inadequate funds and exchange losses hence digitalisation should be a priority lest the country is at risk of being cut off by the International Telecommunications Union. I thank you.

*HON. P. MOYO: Thank you for this opportunity that you have given me to add my voice to the issues concerning budget allocations to the Ministry of Women’s Affairs. I am going to talk about a few things that affect women. As you are aware, Hon. Minister, this year there was a lot of hunger because of drought hence there was no harvest.

Most of the women are the ones who suffer the most, they are the ones who are expected to look after the children. It has been noted with great concern that this year, most of our people are having one meal per day because of a shortage of food.  Therefore, we are pleading with the Government to increase the budget allocation towards the Ministry of Women’s Affairs to alleviate hunger, especially for women and children.

Due to climatic change, even this rainy season, it is going to be difficult. The money that we are expecting to allocate to the Women's Affairs Ministry is not going to be enough to do a lot of things, which include farming. If we are looking at irrigation farming, in rural areas, especially where I come from, in Mwenezi West, we have a lot of water bodies, that are being underutilised because of a lack of equipment to facilitate irrigation. So, it is my plea that money allocated to the Ministry of Women’s Affairs be increased so that women can engage in irrigation schemes so that when there is drought, they will be able to survive with their families.

 Also, on the issue of women, most of them are selling various goods and stuff on the roadside and they are facing a lot of problems because they do not have strategically designated areas to sell their things. To worsen the situation, on the side roads where women will be selling their goods, there are no ablution facilities or water. Therefore, we expected that in this budget, they could increase money to the Ministry of Women's Affairs so that properly designated areas with water and toilets to sell their wares are built.

Still looking at the issues to do with women, there is a need for network signals, especially in the rural areas. Nowadays communication is very essential in terms of conducting any business, in this case agriculture because they would want to get proper communication to engage in different projects. Hence, there is a need for an increase in budget allocation to make sure that the signals are installed in different areas.

Nowadays, even money is being sent using cell phones, so, without a proper signal, it becomes problematic because most businesses are being engaged using e-commerce. Even those who are engaged in small to medium enterprises businesses, most of them are the ones who are active in e-business.

Therefore, I implore the Minister of Finance to increase the budget so that women are trained and capacitated so that they know how to improve their businesses or start new businesses. Hence, in this budget, Hon. Minister, we are pleading with you to increase the money for the Ministry of Women's Affairs.

Furthermore, regarding training for women, there is also a need for the budget to be allocated to the Women’s Affairs Ministry so that they can be trained on how to manage their businesses, make savings, and bank their proceeds. Right now, most of the people are not interested in banking because they see it fit to keep their money on their own at their homes. For example, for those who were operating at Mbare Musika, a lot of goods were burnt, including the money that had been kept in their wares. It shows that there is a lack of proper education or training in terms of safekeeping and the importance of banking money.

There is a bank that focuses on women and I feel that there is a need to increase money allocated to that bank so that they can be able to motivate women to borrow and also to improve their businesses.  This money will help women to boost their businesses and not focus on the small amount of money.  If the Women's Bank’s allocation is increased, it means that even the loans will be increased. At the moment, the Women's Bank does not have enough resources and it is operating at below capacity.  Women are borrowing very small amounts of money and they will continue in their very small businesses.

More money is also needed to improve the issue of transport. When they are traveling from one point to another, women need proper transportation in terms of transporting their goods even on their movement to make sure that they are protected.

The other issue is electricity, women may be selling perishable things, hence there is also a need to make sure that there is electricity even in rural areas.  If women can be empowered to install solar systems in different areas because solar systems are performing very well in different areas. When they are selling their perishable goods, they will be able to preserve or keep their goods fresh.  For example, when chickens are slaughtered, there is a need to put them in a refrigerator. Therefore, there is a need to increase the allocation for the Ministry of Women’s Affairs to install solar systems so that women can continue to grow and remain strong in their businesses.

         Turning to foreign affairs, I also want the budget for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Trade to be increased.  The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Affairs focuses on all issues to do with our external relations.  Hence, it is very important to make sure that this Ministry is adequately and timeously catered for financially.  It is very difficult to live in a foreign country when you do not have money.  I once stayed in one of the countries and it is very difficult to survive in a foreign country without money. It also tarnishes the image of the country when you do not have enough money, hence, my plea for the Ministry of Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion to increase the budget allocation for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Trade.

 I also implore the Ministry of Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion to make timeous payments to officers serving on diplomatic missions.  When people are not paid on time, they borrow in order for them to survive, so it is pertinent to make sure that workers are paid on time.

         The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Trade is also engaged with expos where they are responsible for marketing our country that it is good for business and good to visit.  However, the budget that has been allocated to that area is insufficient to make sure that the core business of marketing our country as well as selling our products is adequately executed.

         We also have areas where foreign nations are allocated land to construct their embassies in different areas through a Government Exchange Programme.  We expect the Ministry of Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion to allocate more funds in that area because there is need for construction of embassy offices for different countries.  I implore the ministry to disburse the money on time so that it is not affected by inflation because other countries do not use our local currency. 

         Thank you Madam Speaker for affording me this opportunity to add my voice on the issues affecting our budget.  I am supporting our budget wholeheartedly.

         HON. C. MOYO:  Thank you Madam Speaker Ma’am for allowing me to add my voice to the 2025 national budget that was presented by the Minister of Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion, Hon. Prof. Mthuli Ncube under the theme, building resilience for sustained economic transformation. Resilience in economic development context encompasses the ability of a local economy to withstand and recover from various shocks and stressors while also adapting to changes, ensuring long-term sustainability and growth.

Madam Speaker Ma’am, while the budget takes commendable steps toward addressing key developmental challenges, particularly water and energy infrastructure, its success will depend largely on timely action and sufficient resource allocation to achieve the intended outcomes.  The budget is important in the sense that it is the last national budget in this phase of NDS1 that became operational in 2021 ending next year, 2025. 

Madam Speaker Ma’am, this budget must therefore address all the gaps that are left for the remaining 12 months for us to achieve the intended targets.

The economic transformation can only be witnessed when the national budget is responding to expectations of citizens and other stakeholders. This budget must therefore address issues to do with health, energy crisis, high unemployment rate, water crisis, road infrastructure, advanced technologies, climate change, production levels of our industry among others.

Paragraph 485 of NDS1 states that the National Dam Safety Plan will be developed and implemented to strengthen existing capacities for water resources management and further develop water resources to cater for existing and future demand as well as reducing hydrological and climatic vulnerability.

The water crisis in Bulawayo remains a severe challenge, affecting both residents and industries. Some researchers say Bulawayo lost its industrial hub status for vehicle assembly, tyre production, textiles production, manufacturing of construction materials, consumer electronics and furniture. Food processing was also a key highlight of industrial activity in Bulawayo, of course not forgetting the processing of leather and manufacturing of leather products.

It is in this regard that the Gwayi-Shangani Dam and the associated pipeline to Bulawayo offer a transformative solution to this decades-long problem. The Minister indicated that the dam’s progress has reached 72%. This, Madam Speaker Ma’am means that we are only left with 28% with the budget allocated of ZiG700 million for completing the dam and ZiG282 million for the pipeline. While these allocations demonstrate recognition of the importance of these projects, the current estimates suggest that completion of the dam and pipeline in time for commissioning in 2025 will require approximately ZiG1.2 billion.

The shortfall in funding Madam Speaker Ma’am poses a significant risk to the timely completion of this critical project. First Republic has done well on this project because there is action on the ground.  Madam Speaker Ma’am, I urge that we prioritise this project once and for all, by allocating the ZiG1.2billion.  There is no doubt that Gwayi-Shangani will be one of the resilient as to our theme, infrastructure poised to economically transform the well-being of Matabeleland North, Bulawayo and to a lesser extent citizens of Matebeleland South in  Bulawayo will then draw less water from Matabeleland South dams.

Madam Speaker, delays in completing the Gwayi-Shangani Dam and pipeline will perpetuate the dire water shortages in Bulawayo and deny the city the economic opportunities that a reliable water supply would unlock. Beyond addressing the needs of residents, this project is vital for reviving industrial activity in Bulawayo, because there are industries that require consistent water supply for operations.

Moreover, the pipeline presents immense potential for transforming agriculture in Matabeleland North and South. Irrigation schemes along the pipeline route would enable large-scale agricultural activities, boosting food security, creating employment opportunities, and improving livelihoods in the region. Madam Speaker Ma’am, if we do this, then we can say this is a responsive budget to what our citizens are expecting.

I am convinced that the Hon Minister of Finance, Economic Development and Investment promotion will agree with me and revisit this allocation.

Madam Speaker Ma’am, before I continue, allow me to read the following paragraphs from NDS1: Paragraph 106 of NDS1 states that Government targets to increase internet penetration rate from 59.1% to 75.4% by 2025. Furthermore, to increase mobile penetration rate to 100% by 2025.

• Paragraph 452- the availability of reliable power supply is a basic requirement for all Zimbabweans.
• Paragraph 457 states that the Government will increase power supply from the current installed capacity of 2317MW to 3467MW by the year 2025.

Yes, this is achievable but we need to do more in terms of allocations and timeous disbursements.

The energy sector is another cornerstone of Zimbabwe’s development agenda. Industries, households, and agriculture all require reliable and affordable energy. The 2025 National Budget highlights the importance of renewable energy projects, such as the 200-kilowatt solar mini-grid in Hakwata Village, Chipinge.

Allow me Madam Speaker to say if Rwanda did it, we can also do it.  Currently, Rwanda’s total on-grid installed solar energy is 12.050 MW originating from three solar power plants namely Jali power plant generating 0.25MW, Rwamagana Gigawatt generating 8.5 MW and the Nasho Solar plant generating 3.3 MW. 

The Hakwata Village solar project has provided much-needed electricity to rural households and small businesses, demonstrating the potential of renewable energy to address rural electrification challenges and promote sustainability. Consequently, this calls for at least allocating a certain amount of fiscus towards Rural Electrification Fund to equip them with sufficient resources to increase their pace in connecting all rural households by 2030.

Energy for agriculture is a critical factor in enhancing productivity and ensuring sustainability within the sector. Farmers rely on energy to power irrigation systems, operate cold storage facilities, run argo-processing plants, and mechanise farming practices. Without reliable energy, agricultural operations face significant constraints, limiting the sector’s ability to meet both domestic and export demands. Consistent energy access ensures that perishable goods are preserved, value addition is maximised and operational costs are minimised, making agricultural ventures more sustainable and profitable. Innovations such as the solar-powered irrigation systems developed by institutions like the Harare Institute of Technology’s Innovation Hub, are essential for addressing energy challenges in agriculture.

These solutions can reduce dependency on the national grid, enhance water access, and improve productivity in rural areas, ultimately complementing agricultural output and overall reducing the impact of power outages. By prioritising energy solutions tailored for agriculture, Zimbabwe can empower farmers, stimulate rural economies, and attract investments into agro-industrial projects. This approach will strengthen the country’s position as a competitive player in both regional and global agricultural markets.

Madam Speaker Ma’am, in conclusion, while the 2025 National Budget outlines critical infrastructure projects, their success depends on timely implementation and adequate funding. I urge the government to reassess and increase the allocated funding to align with the project’s actual requirements.

Indeed, we can build resilience for sustained Economic transformation if we prioritise finishing and equipping our strategic dams as well as build solar plants because energy is an enabler to achieve smart education, smart agriculture, smart health et cetera for all Zimbabweans in 2025 as we march towards achieving Vision 2030.  I so submit Hon Speaker Ma’am.  I thank you.

HON. MAKOPE:   Thank you Madam Speaker for giving me this opportunity to comment on the 2025 National Budget.  I have been looking at Higher and Tertiary Education.  There is a new Vote which is the Work for Fees and I really want to thank the Minister of Finance for considering that new vote as it also looks at those learners with a lot of academic potential, especially deep down in the rural areas.  They fail probably because of lack of financial support.  I hope that the fund will be administered diligently in our institutions of higher learning.  That is one of the areas where our budget is looking at, those people who are poor, meaning that our budget is pro-people and it is people-centered.  I want to thank the Minister for that. 

I also looked at the small amount given to the Ministry of Environment, Climate and Wildlife.  Considering the cross-cutting nature of this Ministry, it infiltrates into other sections of our economy.  The severity of all the disasters which we can see globally depends on the preparedness of that particular nation.  So as a nation, if we are not prepared in curbing these natural disasters emanating from climate change issues, then we will face a number of challenges which range from food insecurity, deaths, destruction of property and life.  I think the Minister can consider that Ministry especially in financing the climate change activities, for instance the support to EMA and Forestry Commission.  That will assist this Ministry to find some mitigations towards climate change. 

On the issue of resilience and you look at agriculture, there is also the completion of our major dams that have already been alluded to by other speakers.  We have dams such as Tugwi-Mukosi, Manyuchi and Kunzvi; if these dams get support, the water that we have already captured can add some meaningful economic development to our nation.  We expect a permanent agricultural infrastructure downstream.  We want to see our agricultural activities - most of our dams to support the rural farmers and most of our poor farmers who just need this support for them to reap the production.  I think if we have some revenue streams moving towards such infrastructure, that can actually assist us.

My comment again goes to the remuneration of our lecturers in our universities. Most of our lecturers are leaving our nation because of poor remuneration.  If we look at our economy currently and our vision, we are looking forward to seeing a transformation of our economic activities because of the innovation hubs and part of research.  This job is being done by our experts, our lecturers or professors who are leaving because of probably poor remuneration and are going for greener pastures in other nations.  I think if we look closely at that vote and assist them, it will actually help our country. 

My last comment goes to BEAM – the Parliamentary Committee on Primary and Secondary Education has already advocated for the movement of BEAM from the Ministry of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare to Education – that is a noble idea. I also want to commend our Government, Ministry of Finance for the recent payment they have done to our BEAM students from 2021-23.  I hope they maintain that.

Lastly, the issue of payment of our farmers who support our GMB, we need to find a deliberate strategy or move where we can support our farmers or encourage them to supply their grain to GMB and they get their payment in time.  Overally, the allocations which we have generally are fair if we are looking at the Budget.  My plea to the Minister of Finance is to make timeous disbursements of these funds to different ministries so that our technocrats can implement the major socio-economic activities which are needed. 

*HON. S. TSHUMA:  Thank you Madam Speaker for giving me this opportunity to add my voice concerning the Budget.  I have three points that I feel the Minister can rectify as my inputs to the Budget to ensure that it is well received and pleases the majority of the country.

First of all, I would like to talk about the income tax, especially the one that is charged on those who earn ZiG.  According to what the Hon. Minister said, 8400 ZiG is taxable at 20%, which is 1650 ZiG.  If we convert this amount to USD, it is about USD 56.  I think this money is too much.  This tax should be reduced.  I would like to compare it to PAYE.  The way it used to be deducted, it was not so much but this one is just too much.  This is so much that the employed will feel that one hand gives and the other takes away.  It is a higher percentage and just as good as 25%.  May the Hon. Minister look into that because when they give a pay rise especially to the civil servants, we realise that the review was about USD40.  This means what they were given is less than what they are going to be taxed.  I feel that the Government should not concentrate so much on taxing and look for other ways to get revenue and ensure that ministries get good money because all the ministries are crying foul with regards to the proposed allocated funds.

On minerals, the Minister of Finance should allocate the Ministry of Higher and Tertiary Education more funding for the following reasons; universities and colleagues offer education programmes in mining and processing.  We continue to lag behind in mining so much that our universities are not churning out any experts who know minerals and they only know less than 60%.  We need to ensure that students get more detailed education about these minerals instead of ending up being taught by foreigners.

I would also like to urge the Minister of Finance to give mining universities and colleges, mining rights if they offer such educational programmes just like agricultural programmes. Most of the agricultural colleges have farms where they do practicals. Universities and colleges that offer mining programmes end up sending their students to nearby mines which may not be a very smooth programme.  They need to have their mines, be it gold or chrome, so that they start the learning programme at that very college or institution and understand practically whether it be exploration, extraction or processing.  I urge the Minister of Finance to look into that to give such colleges and universities rights because in this country we have many mines with a lot of minerals which are owned by ZMDC.  In this country, this is one of the things that I thought was very important and is making us lag in terms of our mines and minerals. We need to have competent surveyors, mining engineers, metallurgists, geologists and experts in exploration 

          The other thing is about selling our minerals.  There is the Minerals Marketing Corporation of Zimbabwe (MMCZ) which is not very visible with regards to the selling of minerals.  The Minister of Finance should allocate funds to this organisation to ensure that they deal with all the minerals in this country and that this parastatal  has quantity surveyors so that minerals such as black granite, coal, cut or uncut dimension stones and quarry stones that are sold in large quantities pay royalties. These minerals are sold in bulk or big tonnage in order to avoid accurate royalties. The Minister did not shed light on how they are going to monitor and collect the royalties.

It is important for Government not to rely on the information given by the private miners who sell their minerals such as coal and granite on their own and declare what they choose to do voluntarily.   That way we lose a lot of minerals and a lot of revenue. MMCZ must be visible everywhere. We realise that wherever there are gold mines, there are Fidelity agents who buy gold. It is now different where there is coal, quarry mining and crushing because of poor monitoring. The Minister of Finance was not clear on the monitoring programme of those minerals and the payment of those royalties so that the Ministry gets adequate revenue.

          Madam Speaker, before I conclude, I would like to talk about the current drought that we are facing.  Our President is always saying that even if there is drought, no one must starve but the problem that we have with this drought is that distribution of food is very slow these days. We realise that some ministries like the Ministry of Agriculture have done their job of sourcing the grain and sending it to the GMB depots. The Ministry of Finance is not providing the funds for further distribution to the beneficiaries and we end up seeing people starving.

          The Ministry of Finance must consider civil protection very. It will be better to reduce any other allocations and it is important to ensure that the lives of the people are saved. These are the people that we represent and they are the ones who sent us to this House. The Minister of Finance should make sure that ZINWA is well funded so that it will be able to drill the 35 000 boreholes which the President has promised for every village by year 2025. The programme is not going well as ZINWA does not have resources. When we make follow ups on how the programme is moving, we always hear that they have not been given funds by the Treasury.

          We end up being told that those who can afford to procure pipes and fuel can use the rigs, which means the more affluent Members of Parliament are the ones who will be able to fulfill those programmes. This defeats the whole purpose because it is meant for everyone, not those few who can afford it. This is tax payer’s money and the Government intends to ensure that everyone benefits. I urge the Minister of Finance to ensure that we support departments like ZINWA, GMB, and Social Welfare so that they do their job properly. Madam Speaker, I also like to talk about mining rights. We should look into mining rights so that Zimbabwean citizens do not struggle to get certificates or the required documents to extract minerals. We heard the Minister saying that mining titles as well as transfers of mining titles will only be open to tax payers. That arrangement is not good for the generality of the public because tax clearance is only available for those who are already in business, but for those who want to start, it becomes difficult for them to get mining rights or titles to exploit the minerals in case such minerals are discovered in their areas.

May the Ministry of Finance look at that because it is segregatory as it is as if it only benefits those who already have. The Ministry of Finance should also look at strategic minerals to ensure that countries that we trade with on such minerals should not be given a lot of rights, especially under the small-scale miners level because when they extract alone, it will compromise our market and that will kill and disadvantage our local miners when they are selling their minerals and who are they going to sell to. We expect that we should extract such strategic minerals on our own and foreigners only come in to buy. For example, chrome. China is the biggest buyer of chrome because they are the ones with the factories that require it and they sell their products to us.

I think they should only be given limited rights to extract minerals because it will compromise our market as they are the ones who buy. They will end up not buying from our own miners because they will be mining the resources. It is just as good as saying when you give GMB seed and input, harvest enough maize to fill their silos. They will offer low prices when buying from other farmers. They will buy maize at USD2 because there will not be any need. So, we will not be able to progress. That is why I am encouraging that MMCZ should look into that and be allocated adequate funds. All those minerals being sold must be going through MMCZ and they should be given the mandate to collect all the royalties on behalf of the Government. I do not think there will be any problems there.

In conclusion, I say may this budget pass after taking into consideration the concerns of the Hon. Members in this House. I thank you.

         HON. DR. KHUPE: Thank you very much Madam Speaker Ma’am. I would like to begin by alluding to the fact that the National Budget is a tool of allocating resources so that there is rapid growth and also achievement of important imperatives such as stability, employment creation, universal health, gender inequality and sustainable development. A good Budget is pro-poor, pro-development and pro-employment. We all envisage a pro-poor, pro-development and pro-employment Budget.

I would also like to highlight that the 2025 Budget is tilted towards recurrent expenditure, which is 87% whereas capital expenditure is 13%. This means that the Budget is consumptive. A good Budget must invest more on capital expenditure so that ministries are able to do projects which will in turn raise more resources, money that will increase our revenue inflows.

On our debt, the Zimbabwean debt is a worrying factor to most of us and it is a drawback to economic development as it is sitting at 21.1 billion, comprising of external debt which is 12.3 billion and domestic debt which is 8.7 billion. The sad reality is that arrears and penalties which are 9.5 billion are more than the bilateral creditors as well as the non-Paris club creditors which is a total of 8.5 billion. This is pointing to the fact that our debt is unsustainable such that we might not be able to clear it in our lifetime. This debt is going to be carried over to future generations.

At some point we tried to go the hippic route and we were told that we do not qualify. It was said that as much as we might be highly indebted, we cannot be classified as a poor country because we have enormous mineral resources. This brings me to the issue of coalbed methane gas in Lupane, Lubimbi area, which is estimated to be 40 trillion cubic feet of recoverable gas and has a capacity of generating 6 000 megawatts as well as the capacity of generating thousands of jobs and tonnes of fertiliser among other things.

It is also said that this gas is one of the finest in the world. During the ministerial statement on energy which I had requested the minister to bring to this House, he mentioned that they had found a private player who was going to look for a big investor. I do not agree with this because our country is not going to benefit as much as we would have wanted because this private player might get a bigger stake. I would like to propose that the Minister of Finance, together with the Minister of  Mines, work harder to get a big investor on a Build, Operate and Transfer Basis (BOT), such that the investor can inject at least USD20 billion to Zimbabwean coffers and then extract the gas for 20 to 25 years and transfer it back to Zimbabwe.

We can then take USD10 billion and pay back our debt and then inject the other USD10 billion into the economy so that all sectors of the economy start to fire from all cylinders. This for me is one way of dealing with our debt crisis and also awaken the sleeping giant because Zimbabwe used to be the jewel of Africa. It used to be the bread basket of Africa and we can easily bring it back to its former glory.

I am pleased to hear that the smelting plant at Selous which was supposed to be completed end of this year has been completed. According to the Chairperson of the Budget Committee’s presentation yesterday, we were losing out on platinum which comes out with 10 other minerals, which are platinum, rhodium, palladium, gold copper, nickel, iron, iridium, osmium and athenium. At the same time, we were exporting jobs to other countries. Platinum producers were exempted from paying royalties so that they are able to complete the processing plant which has since been completed. So, they must start to pay royalties. This issue must be taken seriously because it is an urgent matter that some of these minerals are ring-fenced for the purpose of purchasing state of the art cancer equipment and research and development on new and modern cancer medicine so that we are always ahead of the disease.

On health, it is everyone’s right and a healthy nation produces. In view of this, all people who work in farms must be healthy in order for them to produce food that we eat as a nation. Equally, people who work in mines must be healthy so that they can generate the much-needed foreign currency and teachers who are the ones who build the foundation of our countries by producing skilled manpower, must be healthy. At the same time, health personnel who give us life must be healthy. It is plausible that the Ministry of Health has been allocated ZWL28.3 billion which represents about 13% of the budget, which is 2% short of the Abuja Declaration. It is therefore imperative for the Minister of Finance to make sure that the allocated funds are disbursed on time so that our health needs are met.

         Last year, the Ministry of Health was allocated a total of $743 million which was supposed to go towards drug manufacturing, and they were just dropped in funds allocated towards the management of non-communicable diseases such as hypertension, heart diseases, diabetes and cancer. The most disturbing issue is funds which were disbursed and not used whereas we have a situation where hospitals do not have Panadol, worse still Betadine. Many of our people are dying out there in agony from cancer because there is no state of art equipment so that they are properly diagnosed. At the same time, there are no cancer medicines and yet there are funds lying in a bank account which have not been used. My question is - how is this happening? Who does this when women are dying after having given birth because there is no blood? Who does this when people are dying from cancer? Who does this when there is no Paracetamol nor Betadine in hospital yet there is money losing value in a Ministry’s bank account? We need an explanation to this matter of public interest.

         There are funds which have been ring-fenced from the sugar tax for purposes of procuring state of the art cancer equipment and I suggest that this money which was then US$24 million according to the Ministry of Finance be used also for research and development on new modern cancer medicines for all cancers so that we are always ahead of the diseases. We do not want a similar situation where money is lying in a Ministry’s bank account without being used or a situation where this money is put into a Consolidated Revenue Fund and is used for other uses instead of the intended purpose which is procurement of cancer equipment.

         On gender-based violence, the budget did not focus on gender-based violence. Yesterday marked the end of 16-Days of Activism Against Gender Based Violence and the budget did not mention any increase of funds to support programmes addressing gender-based violence which remains a major issue within communities, investment in shelters, legal support and advocacy is imperative.

On women’s bank, in view of the high levels of informality, there is need to increase support towards the informal sector which has about 80% female informal traders who need start-up capital. The ZWL$120 million which was allocated to the women’s microfinance bank, which is about US$5.2 million is not enough to support women so that they are able to grow their businesses from micro to small, small to medium and medium to larger enterprises. Women, when supported, have the capacity of contributing immensely to economic growth of our country.

         Currently, most of the people in the informal sector are a supermarket of other countries like South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Namibia, Tanzania and Zambia. The women’s bank must be allocated a substantial amount. This will result in women borrowing money for production purposes so that they start to produce the same goods they are buying from other countries for export purposes. At the same time, the interest rates must be reduced because currently the bank is charging 10% interest per month which is too much for women to afford. Collateral must be removed to allow women to borrow money without any difficulties.

         On education and sanitary wear, education is the foundation of any country and I appreciate that the two education ministries got the highest votes, which is ZWL$56 billion which constitutes 20.6% of the total vote allocations. This is slightly above the Dakar Declaration which stipulates that 20% of the budget must go towards education. At least we managed to meet one of the declarations and what remains is for the Minister of Finance to actually disburse these allocated funds timeously.

         I would like to applaud the Minister of Finance for his little effort of allocating ZWL$85 million towards sanitary wear which is about US$3.4 million. I am saying little effort because he tried to allocate towards sanitary wear but the money is not enough. In 2019, estimates were that 550 000 school going girls in Zimbabwe need sanitary wear. The figure might be higher now. These girls face period poverty, which is the inability to afford sanitary products for mensuration. With the allocated funds, it means each girl would get sanitary wear of US$6 for 12 months whereas each girl needs US$24 for 12 months. This allocation is just for three months as each child uses about US$2 per month.  The allocation which will make sure that girls do not miss school because they do not have sanitary wear is about US$13 million. Can the Ministry of Finance make sure that funds for sanitary wear are adequate to cover the whole year and at the same time are disbursed on time and that school girls get sanitary wear all the time?  Girls miss school for five days every month and one month every term. This results in girls failing to catch up with their school work and thereby being left behind. This defeats the mantra of leaving no one behind because girls are left behind due to lack of sanitary wear. More importantly, girls’ rooms must be put in place in all schools and fully equipped with sanitary wear so that girls have access to sanitary wear without any difficulties.

         Parliament is a very important institution because Members of Parliament are representing 15 million Zimbabweans who desire a better life. Members of Parliament make laws which translate into development. Members of Parliament do oversight to make sure that money allocated to ministries is used prudently and reaches intended beneficiaries. More importantly, Members of Parliament are the ones who pass the budget we are debating. This very important arm of Government has been allocated ZWL$1.8 billion, which is about US$68 million. Can the Minister of Finance allocate adequate resources for this very important institution and that funds are disbursed on time so that Members of Parliament do their work effectively and efficiently?

         I would also like to implore the Minister of Finance to consider giving CDF allocation to Proportional Representation MPs so that female MPs also contribute to developing their provinces, particularly advancing women’s interests because if you empower a woman you would have empowered the whole nation.

         In conclusion Madam Speaker Ma’am, ZIMRA is our cash cow and this cash cow must be well fed in order for it to produce more milk, milk which will satisfy all of us. ZIMRA requires an additional ZWL$4.1 billion for their operations to be carried out effectively and efficiently and therefore, there must not be any negotiations when it comes to the ZIMRA bid. Can the Minister of Finance look for the shortfall and make good by allocating it to ZIMRA so that it collects more money to service our ministries and that our revenue inflows increase? I rest my case.

         *HON. NKANI: Thank you Madam Speaker for the opportunity that you have given me.  A lot has been said but I would want to add just a few points.  I thank the Minister of Finance for the Budget presentation that he brought before this House, that is the 2025 National Budget. 

         I hope that the 2025 National Budget on the cash inflow will either be positive or negative depending on the various factors like drought.  Some revenue collection points may be affected by issues like drought.  If the budget is passed and in English we call it an Act, which means that the side that is supposed to issue funds is also supposed to release the funds.  Those that are supposed to receive the funds are supposed to get the funds.  They are also supposed to collect that money.

         My problem Madam Speaker is budget release, the actual disbursement of funds not the debating of figures that we are doing here.  That is not the most important thing.  The most important thing is the disbursement of funds.  We understand that there are procedures or criteria that must be followed when you request money that you actually put a bid on.  For example, when you ask the Ministry of Health whether they got the money they requested for, they will tell you that they only got 30% and it is very painful.  We are told that they simply did not follow what they were expected to do. 

         Madam Speaker Ma’am, all Government ministries must be taught what to do and all the procedures when they request money from Treasury.  They just put a blanket rule that says if a Ministry does not request for the funds, they are not given the funds.  They take advantage of that.  When we ask, they say how come the Ministry did not use some funds?  They were supposed to be the ones requesting.  So, who is in trouble?  It is the majority that is supposed to benefit from that not the Ministry. 

         The Minister of Finance must ensure that all officials that are supposed to follow the procedures must be inducted and taught how to do it so that they request for the money on time instead of being told that there is surplus.  For the actual beneficiaries, the money is not disbursed.  So, Madam Speaker, that must be rectified.  Thank you.

         HON. MUKOMBERI:  Thank you Madam Speaker for the opportunity granted so that I add my voice on the proposed 2025 National Budget which is centred on the theme, ‘Building resilience for sustained economic transformation’. 

My debate is going to focus specifically on the financing side of the budget. This is because if we talk of allocation and appropriations to various ministries but without deep consideration on where we generate the resources to allocate, we will not be doing justice. Madam Speaker Ma’am, key to note is the fact that our budget is made up of the Finance Bill and the Appropriation Bill. The financing side is that which deals with the revenue generation to finance the budget. The underpinning guideline of the 2025 budget as was said by the Hon. Minister is that the budget is pro-people, meaning to say that it supports people or it is pro-poor. At the same time, in analysing this budget, we should not be only considering how it is pro-poor without considering how it is pro-economic development.

So, it means a pro-poor budget is that which firstly generates income to cushion the poor. We cannot be pro-poor by simply reducing taxes so that we are saying that the poor people are not going to pay high taxes. However, we should be also focused on how to generate income that we are going to use so as to cushion the poor. This is because the poor people are cushioned under the Ministry of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare but that Ministry needs money. Where are we going to get that money? It is very important.

Madam Speaker Ma’am, allow me to specifically focus on how beneficial are the revenue measures proposed in the budget to support poor and economic development. First of all, I want to discuss on the fast foods tax that was introduced, of 0.5% which is a new tax proposal. This is an income initiative and generates revenue for the Government. Secondly, it is a prohibitive measure to avoid overconsumption of fast foods as these have a detrimental effect to the health of the Zimbabweans.

 Charging a 0.5% tax on sales on the fast foods is not a punishment to the consumers but rather an income generating measure, plus a way of raising revenue that is therefore directed towards the treating of diseases that are caused by the consumption of such foods.

It must be noted that in trial to direct the revenue directed from charging a tax on these fast foods, these revenues should be ring-fenced towards the intended purpose. We may have a look on that we may not have a piece of legislation that is guiding how we ring-fence such a fund as every revenue that is generated by the State generally is directed to the Consolidated Revenue Fund. It is therefore going to be released or utilised relative to priorities facing the Ministry of Finance.

So, it means that there is no piece of legislation that bars the Ministry from utilising a specified tax in any expenditure head that comes at any given time. I think this one is an income initiative which needs a ring-fencing legislation so that it will be directed for the purpose it is actually levied for. 

         Secondly, we have got betting tax that was introduced by the Minster.  I also want to say, yes, it is one of the ways of raising revenue.  It is quite a good initiative but the proposal is to say, they should not be targeting on charging 10% on gross earnings in general terms.  It should have specified the threshold as every tax that is charged on income has a threshold because the winnings are an income.  So, every income has got a threshold, for example, the PAYE has got a threshold.  Therefore, we should also have a threshold to say, let us say 10% of the winnings, may be starting from $500.00, so that we are going to charge on those earnings.

         Also, if it is taken as a prohibitive measure, may be to discourage  our youths from concentrating much on betting, which is not  productive, thereby facing greater opportunity cost in terms of the other duties forgone that they can do which are productive.  It is therefore, worth undertaking, to say maybe we  avoid charging on the winnings but we charge every bet that is done by an individual, to say every dollar that is betted, the individual is going to be charged may be a percentage as tax.  This has got an effect of increasing the cost of betting, such that it will discourage the youths as it increases the costs of betting. 

         One other introduced tax measure that I want to talk about is the plastic bag tax of 20% on sales.  Yes, it sounds to be not significant, given the price of a plastic bag that is if you say 20% of some cents, it sounds insignificant but cumulatively, this will give a large quantum of revenue to the Government and it will also support financing any appropriation that we can talk about in this House.  Besides performing as a revenue collection measure, it also performs a function of echo-friendly, alternative means of carriage of commodities by consumers.  That means it encourages the use of bio-degradable packaging materials by increasing the cost on plastic bags, which means any other material that is not plastic does not fall under plastic material that is charged such a tax.  So, it means, environmentally, this initiative is very friendly.  If it is for that reason, it needs a portion or all of the revenue generated from that to be also directed towards environmental controls. 

         Let me talk of the adjustments which were made on the existing taxes or revenue measures which were also adjusted.  We have an adjustment that was made on alcohol excise duty, from 25 cents to 30 cents per litre.  This is actually a welcome initiative that actually generates revenue because alcohol is an addictive commodity, which has got what I can call perfectly inelastic demand.  This means an increase in tax on such will result in the Government raising revenue but without reduction in consumption.  However, it should also be ringfenced for a specific purpose for it is levied for.

         The customs duty on electrical vehicles, which was reduced from 30% to 25% is a welcome initiative.  This shall see us actually going a long way in supporting the use of environmentally friendly mode of transport and at the same time, going a long way to reduce the import bill on fuel, that is diesel and petrol.  As we increase the use of electrical vehicles, it means the consumption of fuel in form of diesel and petrol is going to be reduced.  So, the importation of such is going to be reduced, as the fuel bill is taking a significant proportion in our import bill as a country.  So, importing is actually a leakage from the circular flow of our national income because once we import, we have actually lost foreign currency, which we are not going to gain through the same process but we are going to sell the fuel again and import again.  So, it means this one is a welcome initiative that will see us reducing the bill on fuel as well as supporting the use of environmentally friendly mode of transport.  

         This also moves in line with a new adjustment which was made on the VAT exemption on LPG, which is Liquified Petroleum Gas.  This encourages adoption of LPG as an alternative cleaner energy source that is contributing to reducing deforestation, low carbon emissions, indoor air pollution and also promotes energy access and affordability, hence benefitting low income families, that means  the budget is pro-poor, as it supports low income families to also utilise LPG at affordable cost. 

         There was also a reduction on the surtax on cordials.  Cordials are those drinks which are concentrated, for example, Mazowe orange crush.  The tax regime that was introduced in our previous year’s budget was to say let us charge sugar tax but that was taken as an umbrella tax on every sugar beverage.  It did not distinguish how it is going to be administered between non-cordials and cordials.  If I can give an example of a 2 litre of coca cola, which contains 10. 6 grams of sugar but a 2 litre of orange crush contains above 30 grams of sugar.  Now, coca cola is a ready to drink beverage, whereas Mazowe orange crush is diluted.  You are going to say, 1:4 as a ratio, which means this reduces the percentage of sugar when the drink is now ready for consumption.  So, it is a welcome initiative to reduce the tax on cordials as the quantum of sugar that you consume in such a drink is reduced by dilution.  I think it is ideal to say, let us divide the percentage of tax by four because you are going to dilute by ratio of four.

         There are also measures which were put to deter smuggling in the 2025 Budget, which was to say a number of products such as alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages, dairy products, cement, clothing, footwear, detergents et cetera, these would be considered to have been smuggled, unless there is adequate documentary evidence that prove that customs duty has been properly accounted for such commodities.  This has got an implication of enhancing revenue collection, ensuring that customs duty is properly accounted for, thereby boosting Government revenue and it also supports and encourages consumption of locally produced goods.  This benefits domestic manufacturers and suppliers, thus boosting our economy in terms of GDP, because if goods are smuggled from other countries into Zimbabwe, without paying any duty.  It means they land in Zimbabwe at very low costs.  If they land in Zimbabwe at very low costs, this will create an unfair trading field with the local suppliers of the same commodities.  This will result in discouraging local suppliers as those imports would be cheaper compared to local goods supply.  At the end of the day, we will be killing our local industry.  This is a welcome initiative but however, it requires robust border controls and verification systems.  This actually has got a potential of increasing administration costs for monitoring compliance.  It means the revenue authority, which is ZIMRA, should actually be well funded so that they are going to partake their obligation in their revenue collection journey without any hurdles.

         One other initiative of suspension of duty on imported public service buses is also a welcome initiative.  This development increases Government revenue through levying import duty on such buses.  As a country, we currently do not have a significant shortage of public transport that may call for exemption of duty on such buses.  Of course, we may have a shortage, but we do not have that significant shortage which may require us to exempt duty on such buses. So it is a welcome initiative that will see us generating revenue through paying duty by importers of such buses.

 I do not want to talk much about allocations and appropriations. Once we are profoundly serious about the generation of income as a country, then allocation and appropriations of the revenue will not be an exceedingly difficult exercise because we have what to share. We have what to appropriate among ministries or among any expenditure. Thank you, Madam Speaker. 

         HON. MAKUVIRE: Madam Speaker, Ma'am, thank you for giving me this opportunity to address the alarming trend of inadequate budget allocation for the Ministry of Women Affairs, Communities, Small and Medium Enterprises Development. 

 

The ongoing trend indicates that the Ministry continually receives less than 1% of the National Budget and less than 50% of its proposed bid. This is a serious cause of concern as it reflects the level of commitment to gender equality and is a stark contrast to the United Nations Submission Development Goal 5, which has emphasized gender equality and women's empowerment. Likewise, the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action calls for countries to allocate sufficient resources to promote women, economic empowerment, and social welfare through gender-responsive budgeting. 

         This entails analysing budget allocation through a gender lens to ensure that they are inclusive, equitable, and effective in promoting gender equality. Furthermore, the Ministry's mandate was expanded to include small and medium enterprises, increasing the burden, and potentially compromising the effectiveness of programmes aimed at empowering women without a significant increase in budgetary allocation. The broader mandate is less likely to be accomplished effectively and efficiently. 

 

I, therefore, need to emphasise the direct relationship between funding and the effective execution of the mandate. Insufficient resources stifle progress while adequate funding enables meaningful impact. Similarly, the untapped potential of women is a significant cost to the nation. 

         Women constitute approximately 52% of the population but they remain marginalised and their economic empowerment is a neglected area. Women's empowerment is crucial for sustainable growth and studies show that gender equality can increase GDP by up to 35% World Economic Forum 2020. To address this, I recommend that the annual allocation for the Ministry of Women's Affairs be increased to at least 5% of the national budget. 

         This will enable the Ministry to effectively execute its mandate, promote women's economic empowerment, and contribute to sustainable growth. I also propose that the Zimbabwe Women's Microfinance Bank be fully recapitalised so that it provides targeted support for women-led SMEs, entrepreneurship, and training programmes to strengthen their resilience and bridge the gap between potential and actual contributions. As it stands, the bank is grossly underfunded and was allocated 130 million ZiG against a bid of 4.1 billion, translating to a mere 3% of its requirement. 

         Hon. Speaker Ma’am, in closing, I urge the Ministry of Finance to recognise the importance of women's empowerment and allocate sufficient resources to support the Ministry of Women's Affairs. Let us work together to harness the untapped potential of women, driving sustainable growth and development in our great nation.   

         HON. L. DHLIWAYO:  Thank you, Madam Speaker, for giving me this opportunity to debate the 2025 budget. The first thing I would want to do is applaud our Minister of Finance for his intent to ensure that the budget deficit remains narrow. Ensuring that the budget deficit remains narrow, means we will not have the deficit financing that may pose a threat to our exchange rate stability, price stability, and current stability itself. 

         Then, on another note, I would want to question our commitment to the energy sector. I think the energy sector, the vote we have allocated to it, does not reflect the challenges we are facing as a nation. I thought this area may attract a substantial amount of vote in relation to the total budget. So it is my request that the Minister of Finance relook into our allocation to the energy sector.

Then, on another point, all right, I would want to applaud our Minister for also removing some of the incentives that were in mining. I want to believe mining remains the greatest contributor. 

 I mean, it contributes the most to our GDP, I think around 13%. So to have this area, I am considering that these minerals, in many cases, are low-hanging fruit, to allow more incentives to our miners, I think it will not be doing justice, especially to our women, youths, and the nation at large.

 Further to that, considering that it is a major contributor, I am also asking the Minister of Finance to set an additional amount for  mining exploration. Why, because I feel as a country, we do not have enough knowledge about the number of resources we have as a country. We are relying on the maps that were done during the Rhodesian era when technology was not yet that advanced but given that our technology is advanced, we may need to revisit and try to quantify the amount of lithium that we have, quantify the amount of gold that we have and the amount of gas etcetera.  This is so that when we negotiate with interested investors, at least we have enough information that can make us stand our ground and get more ownership.

Then, on another note, I am also requesting the Hon. Minister to ensure that whenever such deals that regard mining are done, at the initial stage, there must be an agreement to ensure that these guys will rehabilitate wherever they would have mined. I think rehabilitation must be made mandatory, otherwise we will be left with ditches that pose an environmental threat to our people.

Then, I would also want to request the Hon. Minister of Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion to make it mandatory to reintroduce that windfall profit tax, regardless of whether there is a special lease agreement or not.  The tax must be mandatory, because I see quite a number of mining companies, some of them used to have some special leases which expired way back and they have ceased to pay this mandatory tax. So I would request the Minister of Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion to make sure this particular windfall taxes are made mandatory.

When it comes to smuggling and illicit financial flows, I am of the feeling that we still need to make sure we have an accurate measure of the illicit financial flows.  This means we need to capacitate our ZIMSTATS and also capacitate our customs agents. There is also a need to ensure we collaborate our  agencies with the global north so that there is proper information sharing with regard to illicit financial flows. Because without proper information sharing, it is difficult to measure the losses that we incur as a result of smuggling, as a result of other monies that flow out and into the country.

On another note, I would also request the Hon. Minister to ensure that once this budget is passed, there must be a timely budget execution. I remember the last time when we introduced our ZiG, there was a requirement that part of the taxes must be paid in ZiG currency in order to increase the demand for our local currency. The implementation of that was delayed until around September.  It was during that period that we experienced some hyperinflationary pressure in our economy.  I think there is a need to ensure the quick implementation of whatever we would have passed in this House.

I would also request the Minister of Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion to ensure that the Office of the Auditor General is strengthened.  It is important to ensure that our Government spending efficiency is enhanced. Without Government spending efficiency, monies that are allocated will not result in the activities that we have committed to,  that is of paramount importance.  In short, thank you Hon. Speaker Ma’am.

HON. TOGAREPI:  Thank you Madam Speaker. Thank you Hon. Minister, for the budget that you presented in this House. I want to encourage the Hon. Minister to widen the tax base.

At the moment, those people who are paying tax are those who are said to be formal, those honest citizens are paying tax. But those who have the real money, who have more money than everybody else, are left out to use public goods and public services without paying tax. – [HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear.] - Madam Speaker, I really want to say to the Hon. Minister, in order to fund this budget, we should have looked at every area of our economy where there is economic activity that is not being accounted for.

We have people who are in gold, we have people who are in different minerals, we have people who are intermediaries in a lot of business and we see that reflected in their lifestyles but I do not know where they pay tax.  If they are paying sales tax here and there, fine but we need to tax their income if we are going to fund this budget timeously and adequately.  So we need that money.

Madam Speaker, we also have taxes that have been proposed on areas like your fast food and so forth. I am told that it is not all of these and I agree that there are others that are distributing safe food. However, you can read from any research that is available either on the internet or from all health practitioners, surely food that is being sold by some of the renowned service providers in Zimbabwe today is exposing our people to a lot of risks like diabetes and cancers.  If we do not tax those people, it means those who buy and consume those commodities will strain the health delivery system.  It is better we get something from those service providers and do that adequately without even fear or favour - just do the right thing.

Any Government, any economy where citizens are not paying tax will not achieve its objectives because Government programmes that must support business, businesses must operate as business. Business can only operate when we have civil servants, we have

enough police who are well paid, soldiers who are well paid, customs officials who are well paid so that the business environment can be facilitated to then do business well.  How will the Government then get these resources to have good police stations and good hospitals built?  If we do not adequately tax those people who are in mining today, by the time they leave Zimbabwe, after exhausting our mineral resources, we will be left with makomba everywhere Hon. Minister, with no good schools. – [HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear.] –

We need good schools from these people.  We should not even think about their corporate social responsibility because that is voluntary. They may choose to do it or may not choose to do it.   The expectation of the citizens of Zimbabwe is for Government to deliver on those services.  If we do not tax those who are exploiting our resources, we are doing a disservice to our people.

Tax is everywhere. All governments in the world tax appropriately considering the environment or the circumstances of our business.  But the culture of tax must be embedded in our people. Let us have a culture; I have friends from other countries who travel to their motherland when their time to pay tax comes.  They feel responsible that I cannot be here when I am expected in Greece to pay tax. They go and pay.   In Zimbabwe when you tax somebody, we are quick to cry foul, whether it is crying or just politicking or something among ourselves, it is not going to help.

Then Hon. Minister, there are two institutions that pain me a lot that can create critical development for this country, especially for low income people.  These are the Empower Bank and the Women’s Bank.  These institutions were designed to help low level business for our people.  That is where the majority are found and yet they are not funded enough.  I do not know whether they are still serving their purpose if we do not capitalise them well.  If the women’s bank has no money and we say 52% of the population are women and those women are doing small projects that need funding but still run under an institution that is below expected capitalisation, are we really serious that we would want to see this institution doing the activities it was designed for?  We would want this budget to fully capitalise the Women’s Bank and the Youth Empowerment Bank.  We expect them to perform if they are fully capitalised but without full capitalization, we cannot push them to account.  We create money for Government out of promoting business.  If people who are borrowing money from these two financial institutions and many others have been given a conducive environment to do business because the institutions have adequate resources, it means expanding your tax base becomes easy.  Once they want to do business with Empower Bank, they must first be registered.  If the money is there, it means when you go to Mupedzanhamo today, everyone will be a registered business because they want to take advantage of the loan facilities that are offered by these financial institutions.  Currently, you do not have any incentives to register because they korokoza their monies.  We do not know where they get their capital from.  So, let us fully capitalise these two institutions. 

          The other avenue is that we have a very fat pension system in Zimbabwe.  These people are using resources that were saved by those who have retired as well as others who are working and still contributing to pension funds.  However, these funds are long term investments and that must support development and infrastructural development.  Yet, these financial institutions are stagnant.  If pension funds will not support business or economic development, it means they will not get more contributors to their funds and they become in a way ponzi schemes because one day they will crash.  They only survive because there are new people coming on board. Those pension fund schemes; if old people remain in the pension fund schemes, it means they are only draining out and the pension funds will collapse one day.  Yet, if there are new people who will retire in the next 20 years, we are strengthening these pension funds.  So, I implore the Minister through IPEC and the Ministry of Finance to have prescribed assets that support areas like the Empower Bank and Women’s Bank so that there are resources that can then support economic development. 

          Big insurance companies in Zimbabwe have invested in beautiful buildings and you are not taxing them because the law says pension funds are not taxed.  So, they build high rise buildings and those buildings - when I retire or die, you cannot point a brick on that building and attribute it to me.  Sixty-five percent of the buildings that you see today are owned by these institutions.  If you leave these businesses to keep their monies as cash, they will contribute towards development.  Our industry has nowhere to borrow money from.  We need to offer these incentives through encouraging these institutions to contribute towards economic development so that even your purse improves.  So, I am saying let us do a serious research on how all Zimbabweans who have the capacity to pay tax do so.  All Zimbabweans with the wealth that must pay tax should do so.  Do not apologise.  I think this House must defend you because this House also survives on the purse that you hold.  So, we must support your revenue collection base and we need to collect.   Minister, we support this budget because it is pro-poor and sensitive to where we are going.  However, we would love to collect more and to be able to disburse allocations to ministries on time.  The reason why you cannot do that is because you have a proposal that is not funded because fewer people contribute to the purse.  So, Minister, do not apologise.  Everyone who must pay tax should do so.  I thank you.

          HON. NYANDORO:   Thank you Madam Speaker for giving me the opportunity to add my voice to this important discussion on the 2025 National Budget.  My first intervention will be on the allocation that was extended to the Ministry of Women’s Affairs, Community and SMEs Development, which is 0.02% of the total budget.  The women of this country are alive to the fact that the Minister of Finance is operating with very few resources and that his purse is very small.  However, in light of improving the livelihoods of women in this country, I strongly believe that the Minister should try by all means necessary to increase the allocation to at least 1% because the Ministry of Women Affairs has a cocktail of women related challenges to deal with.  In the interest of time I will only mention a few: 

1. Women constitute a greater percentage of the population of our country and they are the most vulnerable.
2. The escalation of cases of violence against women and girls needs the ministry to provide safe shelters for survivors. At the moment, the Ministry has a lot of incomplete structures that are supposed to be housing women that are running away from Gender-Based Violence (GBV).  The Ministry also has to increase awareness campaigns on Gender Based Violence (GBV) in all communities.  The Ministry also has to ensure that they provide necessary services such as health, legal and counselling services to the survivors of GBV.

         The Ministry needs to economically empower the survivors so that they will be able to fend for themselves and their children and this can only happen when there is proper capitalisation of the Women’s Bank and SMEDCO.

         Allow me to thank the Hon. Minister for allocating some funds to the Ministry of Environment, Climate and Wildlife.  My key task under this Ministry is for the Hon. Minister to allocate separate funds for two important conferences that the country is hosting next year.  These conferences are adequately prepared for they have a potential of bringing in revenue to the fiscus; COP15 Ramsar Convention on Wetlands in July 2025 and the KAZA Trans frontier Convention.  If these conferences are fully funded and well prepared, they have a potential to bring in foreign currency that will be added to our fiscus and also give us a chance to tell the Zimbabwean story to the world.

         On taxation, the people of Southern Constituency understand that for them to get necessary goods and services from their Government, taxation has to take place. However, they feel that too many taxes are being levied on the poor citizens at the expense of big businesses that are enjoying tax holidays.  On the issue of taxing those who practice betting, Southerton feels that the Government should also put tax on betting companies because they collect the greater chunk on these transactions.  The people are also concerned about tax holidays that are given to mining companies who are extracting our minerals without giving back to the citizens in the mining community.  The Government is losing a lot of revenue through our borders. It is my view that the Government needs to put strict measures around our borders so that we deal with the issue of smuggling of goods without the necessary taxes being paid to the Government.  It is one of the areas which the Government can get money to service the ministries.

         I am worried about the re-introduction of duty on some medical products after COVID-19.  Due to economic hardships, many of our citizens are dying without seeking medical assistance because they cannot afford.  This measure will further put the lives of our people in jeopardy because medical costs will rise significantly.

         I would also like to urge the Minister of Finance, in the interest of growing our purse, to look into the possibility of re-industrialising our country.  The good Lord has already done his part and endowed this nation with precious stones. Can we as Government start from there and start creating industries that produce goods from our own minerals through beneficiation and value addition which will create employment for our citizens and in turn  they will be able to pay the taxes. 

I would also like to urge the Minister to also look into the financing of the production of medical supplies.  This will also ease the burden on our citizens as most of the medical suppliers are currently beyond the reach of many. 

         In conclusion, Madam Speaker, I would like to humbly ask the Hon. Minister to have a relook at the Budget that they have allocated to ministries such as Health, Women’s Affairs, Environment and Climate Change and Education. A lot of people were talking about ring-fencing of the monies that are being collected from the sugar taxes to ensure that these funds are channeled towards boosting our health system. 

In light of a lot of climate changes happening in our country and globally, it is also my view that the Minister needs to timeously release the funds to the Ministry of Environment so that they will be able to mitigate the consequences of climate change.  I would also like to thank the Minister for the allocation that they have given to the two ministries of Education.  However, I still ask the Minister to do timeous disbursements so that these allocations will have a meaning. I so submit.

         *HON. MAPIKI: Thank you Madam Speaker.  I will first of all applaud the Hon. Minister of Finance for the Budget which he presented.  I would also like to applaud all the Hon. Members here because they have the same view.  I do not have to specifically state on the specific budgetary figures which were put.  I will focus on the Ministry of Agriculture…

         THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER (HON. MAUNGANIDZE): Order. Hon. Hamauswa and your colleagues, may you allow the member to be heard in silence.  You have been making noise the whole time.  Can you please respect the business of the House?  Hon. Mapiki, you may proceed. 

         *HON. MAPIKI:  Thank you Madam Speaker Ma’am.  I would like to focus on the issue of agriculture.  If we have enough funds, kindly avail it to the Ministry of Agriculture so that cloud seeding can be done.  In agriculture, we hope to revive the Cold Storage Commission.  I think we have a lot of meat supplies which are being requested from countries like Indonesia.  I am kindly asking for revival of the Cold Storage Commission.  The amount of money that is needed in the revival or renovation of these structures – in other countries, instead of farmers selling their livestock to middlemen, they simply sell direct to the Government and they can be paid in 60 to120 days.  All the livestock will have been sold to other countries.  I am hoping that the Government could get enough revenue from that side. 

If we increase the Budget, I do not know where we can get the funds, on the issue to do with agro-processing.   If we do not revive such issues by ourselves, we will face difficulties.  I remember looking in Mbare Musika, per day the number of vehicle which dump rotten tomatoes, sometimes they dump around 120 tonnes of tomatoes and cabbages.  If we had the power to purchase the driers to dry such produce, I think that would help the whole nation. 

The issue to do with agro process – we should be reviving or producing more to the nation.  I remember other countries like Ukraine where they have war, they grow their own sunflowers and then they process the same sunflowers into oil and then they will start to sell.  So on the issue of agro processing, we have to look closely into it. Instead of us paying money to them, we should be receiving money from those areas.  The GMB must not only wait to distribute maize for social welfare, they must have their machinery whereby they can process mealie meal and cooking oil.  Their major duties are not only to receive Pfumvudza and that of social welfare, GMB should have machinery just like at Aspindale so that they can process oil, flour and mealie meal. Even the farmers, here it should be time for us to grow rice instead of us importing rice from other countries. 

          The GMB should be working with other departments and importing herbicides and packing at GMB because when importing from other countries, they import them at a lower price and then GMB should pack and resell such things.  That is what I was expecting, for GMB not only to receive but distribute.  Value addition should be done at GMB.

          On the department of transport, I have a small issue that I think the Minister has to look into.  Honestly, we have a lot of people who are mining and damaging our roads.  I think we have to charge miners 2% to 3%.  All the people who are mining do not pity them. Do not give them conditions if they want to run away let them go.   Let us give them a certain percentage because we do not have the issue to do with Community Share Ownership Trust where we used to have 10%.  In those areas, they are damaging roads and schools.  Whenever they are mining, whatever type of mineral, they must build the schools and hospitals so that we know where the funds are being directed to instead of being misused. As they do their mining they damage the environment.  The environment should be given more allocation because we have other foreign countries who are coming here who are simply taking graders to do what they call repainting in situ.  They are using various chemicals and they are not even sure whether it is harmful or not.  They are affecting people.  Radiation is transmitted into the air by those chemicals

We must do a lot of investigation and ensure that they pay a certain amount.  In other areas, people are just mining and they say we paid to the local authority so such funds should be reserved for road construction.

If I look at the issue to do with mines, it was once mentioned by Hon. Tshuma.  Mines are being sold day and night but the Government is not benefiting anything.  In mines, they are receiving millions of dollars. For us to have the paperwork, it was once tasked to the council to see what they have done.  They apply for mining licenses and everything.  They charge 2 000 but when they want to resell the same mine, they sell it to 200 000 to 300 000 but nothing is channelled to the Government.  I believe that we have to look into such things.  I remember another former Hon. Member who used to say, people used to say eat what you have worked for. I think we should benefit from what we have worked for as well looking at our resources.

In mines, on the issue to do with value addition, we are simply talking about it.  Here in Mount Hampden, we used to have the cutting and polishing of diamonds which they used to do and it suffered a natural death.  In Msasa we used to have another company which was manufacturing gold rings, it also suffered a natural death.  I think we have to revive those things.  Lithium on the world market, they are saying it is not paying but we do not have anything to do with the world market.  We need to manufacture our lithium batteries here. We have got a lot of lithium in this country and let us take the information of manufacturing of batteries then we sell them and start exporting those batteries. I was thinking that we must spare a certain funding for that. We have an issue to do with the informal traders, the SMEs. 70% in this country are informal traders. We are simply waiting for them to be formalised, yet way back people used to sell bags to receive what is called a Hawker's Licence.

Everyone who is selling vegetables or anything must have a disc or a Hawker’s Licence and it must not be sold by the City Council but by the Government. If it is taken to the City Council, the revenue generated will be channelled toward salaries. Look at it this way, if we have eight million SMEs and then every month they purchase a disc of USD 2, then we multiply that by two million, how much do we generate? That is what I am looking into. We are not supposed to run away from SMEs because they are our shadows, let us look into them and make sure how best can we raise funds from them.

If the general public cries saying let us forgive them, do not listen to them, let us simply formalise them and ensure that they pay. Whoever walks around selling, be it a bag or anything, that person must have a hawker's license disk if they encounter the police. I remember people way back used to walk around holding those Hawkers Licences and then that generated a lot of funds. Even artisanal miners should be looked at closely so that they pay funds. We do not have to leave them out or excuse them because they are benefitting lots of money. Artisanal miners have lots of kgs of gold, let us not excuse them and let us try to see how best we can collect funds or money from them.

Minister, I am looking at the Local Government Councils Offices. Right now the Council has a type of job in which they say 30% goes to wages then 70% goes to service delivery. Right now, all the Councils are only speaking to devolution. What programmes are they doing so that they can benefit those people from rural areas?  The issue to do with devolution, they are saying that the administration should be looked into so that we know what our council is doing before they speak of devolution.

I have observed that the Ministry of Youth was allocated 0.4% and they are the people we are hoping to solve the issue of drug abuse for those youths who are having such drugs to abuse, I was thinking that the building of vocational centres should be expanded so that we do partnership with others, not only to just rely on the Government to say they have to avail funds to build those vocational centres. For resettled areas, there must be a law whereby the sheds which were left by the former farmers can be turned into vocational centres. All we do is to source funds to buy machinery for those centres whereby we have those youngsters of ours to share equally with other countries.

         These children are now abusing drugs. We have to expand those vocational centres. How do we get those funds, we have those companies which are manufacturing those types of beers. We once restricted the production of such beers which are being sold $1 for two. I was expecting your ministry to kindly charge a levy of 2% to 3% which we can receive from those beers which will then control drug abuse for our children. 

         I would like to thank you Hon. Minister and I am supporting this budget by concluding to say even yesterday when I was discussing with the Opposition in the Senate, I was in a bar drinking together with one of the secretaries and he said he was going to support this budget up until everything comes out well. We then agreed with that Hon. Sen. and he said those other people who are not supporting…

         HON. HAMAUSWA: On a point of Order Madam Speaker Ma’am. I think what is being said by Hon. Mapiki is now off the topic and it is spoiling his debate. I thank you.

         *HON. KARUMAZONDO: Good afternoon Madam Speaker Ma’am. Let me take this opportunity to thank you for according me this opportunity to add my voice on the 2025 National Budget debate. I would like to thank the Minister of Finance for the allocation which he has given to various ministries. Let me start with the Ministry of Transport. I would like to thank you for the allocation which you have availed to the Ministry of 2.5%.

Last year you allocated 5% and we saw wonders which were done by the Ministry of Transport in the road construction, this year. It shows that a debt is yet to be paid on those roads which were constructed. It shows that we have outstanding payments. I am humbly asking to say if we pay up all those bills, it means the Ministry of Transport will not have anything to use. If you look at Hon. Members in here, the roads in their constituencies are so much damaged and they expect the reconstruction of those roads. Kindly increase the allocation for those various constituencies so that their roads are rehabilitated.

We now go on to the National Railways of Zimbabwe. I was expecting that NRZ should have its railway so that they can buy new wagons which will help us to save the lifespan of the recently constructed roads.

Let me go into agriculture.  I would like to thank you for the allocation given. Global warming is here and it is a reality.  I kindly ask that you allocate a little bit more to the Ministry of Agriculture so that we construct dams and those dams will help us with irrigation. If we do not have enough rainfall, we will not source for funds to import from other countries. Those dams will assist us with irrigation.

On the same note, we do not want to build new dams. Let us complete the projects for dams that were already started like Kunzvi, Semwa and those dams have to be completed. Let us avoid starting new projects when those ones are not completed. I am kindly asking you to add more funds to that agricultural budget.

I would like to thank you for the borehole programmes. Right now, some of the contractors who are being instructed to come and sink boreholes do not put fence or solar. May you kindly add the budget allocation for the Ministry of Agriculture so that it adds up to 10%? This is because I discovered that you allocated 8.4% as compared to the last budget which had 9.74%. If that budget is added, it will help us to provide in many rural areas.

I now go on to mines. We remember some of the funds which were released before the cadastral system. Kindly allocate more for them to conclude the cadastral system and also to do the mining exploration. They cannot do with the limited allocation which you offered them. Still on mines, I think you proposed to have 55 for PGM industries. I am kindly asking for 5% or 10% to be added. Maybe that can help us so that we do not lose more revenue.

Let me move on to the Local Government. I would like to speak focusing on the issue to do with National Housing. I am kindly asking you to listen to me very carefully on the issue to do with Local Government. You have a programme that you started of building flats. We have flats that are being built in Kariba, Gweru, Dzivarasekwa and Beitbridge. We have those flats which you did as a pilot project which are being built in Mutawatawa as well as the Mother’s Shelter.

If you look at it, the amount of money which you allocated to the Ministry of National Housing is very little as compared to the type of job which they are doing. This project of building flats is a new programme which was seconded by the President. It helps us so that civil servants can have good accommodation wherever they go. That is a pilot project which is being done in Mutawatawa, kindly add more funds to the Ministry of Local Government because the amount allocated is just too little. As a project which you have started in Mutawatawa, I think you have to conclude that since the President is saying no place should be left behind. Kindly add more because you allocated ZWG694 million which is very little as compared to the type of job.

On the Ministry of Health. I would like to thank the Minister for the allocation which you availed to the Ministry of Health. The issue to do with drugs in hospitals, the whole nation will have a shortage of drugs but let me say it this way. Those clinics from rural areas where the majority of MPs come from, they do not have those pharmacies. If they go to those clinics and they do not get medication from there, kindly avail more funds for NatPharm so that they can import more chemicals for those rural clinics.

In conclusion Madam Speaker, on Social Welfare Hon. Minister, the BEAM funds which used to go through Social Welfare, people once proposed that they should be disbursed through the Ministry of Education. This is because in rural areas, 90% of the children will be on BEAM. Therefore, I am kindly requesting that these funds have direct disbursements to the Ministry of Education so that they quickly benefit the beneficiaries to ensure that we have better education for those children under BEAM facility. This is also to ensure that these children also have good buildings constructed in those areas because people are not paying. If you do this Minister, this would be a noble idea. I thank you for the opportunity you have accorded me.

 

HON. S. DUBE: Madam Speaker, I would like to thank you for affording me this opportunity to add my voice on the 2025 National Budget. As a young person, I recognise and commend the vision of our esteemed leadership, Hon. Prof. Mthuli Ncube, whose financial roadmap aims to foster resilience for sustained economic transformation. The Ministry of Finance’s objective of creating an economic environment, conducive to youth empowerment is commendable. We must address some pressing issues within the political, social, and economic spheres.

1. Ensuring Targeted Financial Support

Madam Speaker, while allocations for the Ministry of Youth Empowerment, Development and Vocational Training stand at ZiG$1 billion, I must question the mechanisms in place to ensure that these funds effectively reach the intended beneficiaries. Past experiences have revealed bottlenecks in funds distribution, often leaving marginalised youths without access.

To address this, I propose the creation of youth-led provincial committees.

These committees, comprising representatives from diverse youth groups within each province, would serve as both advisory and oversight bodies. Their mandate would include:

Participating in the planning and allocation process: Ensuring that the distribution of funds aligns with the specific needs of youth in their provinces.

Monitoring fund utilisation: Providing transparent and real-time feedback on how the funds are spent.

Facilitating youth inclusion in decision-making: Collaborating with local authorities and other stakeholders in provincial activities, from skills training programmes to entrepreneurship projects.

Capacity-building initiatives: Equipping youth committee members with training in governance, financial literacy and project management to ensure effective participation.

These committees will act as a bridge between the Ministry and grassroots youth, guaranteeing equitable access to financial support, particularly for the most vulnerable. Additionally, their involvement would enhance accountability and foster trust between young people and the Government.

2. Addressing Inflation’s Impact on Allocations

The current economic climate characterised by high inflation, poses a significant challenge to the value and impact of budgetary allocations. I propose the immediate and transparent disbursement of funds allocated to youth programmes to mitigate inflationary erosion. Delays not only reduce the purchasing power of the allocated amounts but also hinder the timely execution of critical projects.

Additionally, I ask this House, can the budget allocation for Youth be disbursed earlier to avoid depreciation in value given that it has been presented in ZiG? Timely disbursement is critical to ensuring that the intended impact is not eroded by inflation.

3. Youth-Led Administration and Oversight

Madam Speaker, I advocate that we make use of the Youth Quota System in the decentralisation, implementation and oversight of these funds across all the 10 provinces, especially when it comes to activities directly affecting the youth. This can be achieved by the formation of Youth-led Provincial Committees under the Youth Quota System that participate in provincial activities as I mentioned earlier. These committees will ensure youth representation across economic, social, political and geographical divides. This approach will not only empower young people but also ensure that they have direct involvement in evaluating and monitoring projects. When youths are given ownership, they are more likely to prioritise accountability and effectiveness.

4. Promoting Integrity and Combating Corruption

Corruption remains a significant threat to the effective use of public funds. How will the Government ensure integrity and transparency in disbursing funds allocated for youth programmes? I suggest the establishment of an independent oversight committee composed of youth representatives and civic organisations, to monitor fund utilisation and prevent malpractices.

5. Equitable Distribution across Demographics

The budget must reflect a commitment to leaving no one and no place behind. How can we ensure that allocations empower both urban, peri-urban and rural communities equally? Rural areas in particular, face unique challenges that require targeted interventions such as infrastructure development and digital connectivity to unlock their potential.

6. Tackling Social Ills Affecting Youths

Madam Speaker, the 2025 Budget must address pressing social issues such as unemployment, substance abuse and prostitution which disproportionately affect young people. Increased funding for vocational training centres, mental health services and community outreach programmes is essential to combat these issues and create sustainable livelihoods.

7. Cross-Ministry Collaboration

Lastly Madam Speaker, the allocations for Ministries like Health (ZiG$28.3 billion), ICT (ZiG$641.4 million) and Industry and Commerce (ZiG$550.9 million) offer opportunities for collaboration to address youth needs holistically. How can these ministries work together to integrate youth priorities into their programmes, ensuring that the benefits of the Budget are maximised across sectors? This should include the Ministry of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services (ZiG$433.1 million). The funds allocated to Media and Broadcasting Services are crucial for enhancing communication infrastructure, supporting community radio stations and promoting youth-driven media initiatives. This committee can champion programmes that use media as a tool for youth empowerment, fostering creativity and disseminating information effectively. How can this Ministry collaborate with other sectors to maximise the impact of these funds on youth programmes?

To ensure the benefits of the budget are maximized across sectors, I propose the following:

The Ministry of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services can:

1. Partner with ICT and The Ministry of Industry and Commerce to launch innovation hubs where young entrepreneurs can access training, mentorship and tools to develop tech-driven solutions.
2. Establish partnerships with community radio stations to amplify youth voices, share opportunities and promote success stories of youth-driven initiatives such as radio programme slots designated for the Youth Quota System to inform, update and educate young people using the power of radio and T.V to reach all youths even those in rural areas.

• Allocate funds to support youth in producing media content, including documentaries, podcasts and social media campaigns focused on pressing youth issues like unemployment, education and entrepreneurship.

1. Train youth in journalism and digital story-telling to ensure accurate and impactful content creation.
2. Establish an inter-ministerial task force involving the proposed youth-led provincial committees to track the impact of these initiatives. This task force can identify gaps, recommend adjustments and ensure that funds are spent efficiently and equitably.

Conclusion

Madam Speaker, as we deliberate on the 2025 budget, let us ensure that it not only addresses immediate economic challenges but also lays the groundwork for a future where every young Zimbabwean can thrive. I call upon all stakeholders to prioritise integrity, transparency, equity and inclusivity in implementing this Budget, ensuring that it becomes a tool for transformation rather than mere allocation. I thank you Madam Speaker.

*HON. BUKA:  Thank you Madam Speaker.  Let me start by supporting the budget which was presented by the Minister of Finance.  I would like to thank you so much for a budget well presented.  We strongly support you.  We do understand that you are working under pressure and using limited resources but that does not stop us from asking you to adjust a little bit on other allocations, which I think will assist us to go forward as a nation.

Let me start with the issue which is at the heart of all the women.  All the women that you can see in here, most of them have not spoken yet but we all have one vision.  We have one agenda for the uplifting of women in general.  We are kindly asking that you adjust your allocation and look into the Women’s Bank.  That issue was discussed by other speakers before me but I need to reemphasise so that you understand that we humbly want to uplift the Women’s Bank.

I would like to thank the Chief Whip who came into our shoes and supported us as women to say kindly work on the Women’s Bank.  I am kindly asking for your soft heart to work on the Women’s Bank so that the lives of many women can be transformed for the better. This helps us in capacity development as well.  If women are given or allocated certain funds, they will enjoy the good living with their families.  They do not abuse those funds with anyone else.  They take that money to their children and families.  If you uplift that Women’s Bank, we can live well. The issue to do with unemployment will be a thing of the past because all women will be occupied somewhere else.  The issue to do with the Gender-Based Violence (GBV) will be reduced.  Asking for money for relish, school fees and other things can lead to quarrels or violence in the home. I am kindly asking for us to reduce GBV or domestic violence compassionately avail more funding for the Women’s Bank for them to be committed somewhere.

I would also like to speak about the issue of child Parliament.  You discovered that we were walking in and out together with them.  Kindly look into them and add a certain allocation for them because they represent their fellow students.  It is our duty as parents to speak on their behalf by pleading with your Minister so that they get more resources. The children that we have today are our future leaders.  We would like to catch them young.  We need to agree and ensure that we teach them the freedom to speak everything from their mind because they are future leaders with a vision. 

We go on to the children who are in rural areas.  Nowadays if chidden do not have access to internet, it will bring confusion or downfall in terms of their results outcome. For those children to do homework just like any other children in urban areas, it will be very difficult. So, I am kindly asking that wherever we go, we need to make sure that we broaden the network base for those children who are based in rural areas. They have to have access internet because when they are being tested, they will sit for the same examinations and will go to the same universities. If they grew up in areas where they have limited resources, it will then lead to the late development for those children in those grass roots areas.

Let me look into the issue to do with the girl child. Somebody once spoke about it but I would like to emphasise a bit more because each and every month, the girl child undergoes a menstrual cycle for five days. It even worries because sometimes it brings health issues because of what happens in the body of the girl child. When you gave us your budget presentation, Hon. Minister, kindly ensure that girl children in primary schools must have those sanitary wear. Whenever those things are happening, they will be changing their bodies during puberty and that brings confusion to the girl children.

If they do not have the sanitary wear, they will end up using some of the things that will create problems in life. I am kindly asking that the allocation for those children who undergo menstrual cycle and even those in primary schools must not miss that sanitary wear. On the same issue, instead of us continuously buying the sanitary wear, I think it will be good for us as Government to have our very own machinery which will then manufacture them. By so doing, we will be able to give sanitary wear to all children because it will not be very expensive for us.

         I would like to continue thanking you Hon. Minister for giving BEAM direct to schools.  If you look at it, like this year, we have a drought.  If you look in those rural areas, most of them rely on agriculture.  So, if they did not harvest anything, it then means that those children will not go to school.  Since you have availed BEAM to school, that has helped children to continue going to school despite the challenges.  I would not speak more on the issue of BEAM because somebody spoke about it.

         I will talk on the Ministry of Agriculture. I understand that you allocated some funds for expansion of other bigger dams but there is need also to do the same to smaller dams.  These smaller dams provide drinking water for domestic animals and other wildlife, so they also need an allocation for smaller dams. In other areas, people will end up fighting for water with the animals, which might cause death to either animals or people themselves.  I am kindly asking the Ministry of Agriculture whenever you allocate funds for those bigger dams, please allocate funds for those smaller dams. 

I would like to thank you for according me the opportunity to add a few words to this debate.  I would like to thank you again for road construction that is happening in urban areas.  We are very proud as a nation; that has uplifted my morale as a Gokwe citizen. We have Golden Valley, Sanyati and Gokwe-Choda among those roads which are under construction.  Those are the roads which you promised that you will avail funds for their construction.  I wish you all the best. Whenever you are working on all the urban roads, remember also those roads in rural areas.  I thank you.

         *HON. MURWIRA: Thank you Madam Speaker Ma’am.  I would like to thank you for the time which you have accorded me to add my voice to the 2025 National Budget which was presented here by the Ministry of Finance.  I would like to speak on the issue to do with war veterans.  I would like to thank our Minister for the funds which he allocated to the war veterans, but as citizens, we will continue asking for more.  The war veterans still have an appeal on the issue to do with their residential stands.  They were offered 35 mines but they do not have equipment.  They were given also 80 farms but they do not have equipment to start working. 

         Hon. Minister, as your citizens, since you have allocated them such mines and farms, they need to have some equipment to use.  We also have those Chimbwidos and Mujibas who were vetted and we expect others to be vetted again.  We kindly ask for that allocation for those veterans of the liberation struggle to be availed.  Also, add a little bit to the allocation of war veterans so that they can start working in those mines.  If our budget has passed, let us actually ensure that the funds are availed before they are devaluated.

         On the issue of defence, I would like to thank you Minister. We discovered that you had an additional as compared to last year’s defence budget.  However, the vehicles for the defence forces need to be increased, that is what we call a country.  The uniforms for those defence forces, if they dress up well, it markets our country.  I am saying Minister, you allocated 18 billion ZiG, kindly add a little bit more that will make sure that our defence forces will be well catered for.

         Let me speak on the issue of Home Affairs.  I would like to thank you Minister because you added more funds to our budget as compared to that of last year.  However, we discovered that we have a lot that needs to be done.  We have an issue to do with pass-out and it is now three years without having a pass-out.  If we do not prepare ourselves, we might end up not recruiting more police officers. 

Let me now touch on the issue to do with transport and accommodation of our uniformed forces.  You know we have increased cases of armed robbery yet we do not have enough vehicles to attend to the scenes of crime on time.  We urge you Minister to look into it so that we purchase more vehicles and that our police officers can respond to emergencies on time.

         However, Hon. Minister, I cannot just sit down without talking to the issues to do with women.  We have one stop centres which are being built; they are still incomplete.  There are women’s markets, for example the one in Chikomba is now around 70% complete.  Kindly increase the Women’s Affairs budget by at least 1%, I think that will help us.  Thank you so much Minister.  I would like God to keep you well so that you will look into our budget.  I thank you.

         HON. MATINENGA: Thank you Madam Speaker.  I rise to add my voice on issues raised by the Chairperson of Women’s Affairs Committee.  I will emphasise on issues which have not been raised by other Members.  I will touch on the issue of the National Handicraft Centre, which is under the Ministry of Women’s Affairs.  The centre was allocated ZiG33 million when it had bided for ZiG120 million.  The appeal is for the Minister of Finance to at least grant the Ministry a 50% of what it had bided for. 

         The centre has a potential to boost various sectors of the economy such as the agricultural sector through use of agricultural products, which will be used at the centre.  Also, in attracting tourists, there will be increased beneficiation if the centre is capacitated.  Touching on issues relating to Policy and Administration Vote for the Ministry of Women’s Affairs, they have been understaffed for a very long time.  There is need for ward coordinators who have been operating without tools of trade such as motor vehicles, motor bikes and computers.  If you can consider increasing the budget for those departments of the Ministry of Women’s Affairs. On the issue of revenue measures, we want this budget to be pro-poor.

Coming to the issue of health, a healthy workforce is very important to a nation.  We are aware that doctors are leaving this country to other countries because we do not have medical equipment and even the consumables in hospitals.  If they want to open their private surgeries, it becomes expensive and are beyond the reach of many.  The move to exempt duty on medical equipment is a welcome gesture since hospitals can be equipped with modern equipment.  This will assist people, especially women because they are the most affected.   We are talking of a pro-poor budget and we are talking of supporting issues that affect women the most. Issues of health affect women the most. 

         Secondly, Madam Speaker, my heart bleeds when I see people, especially in this rainy season, standing along roadsides looking for transport and we are talking of suspending duty on the purchase of buses, especially this rainy season. What are we saying, especially when we say we want to protect the poor? It is those poor people who look for public transport. 

         If we can postpone that issue, maybe until we have solved the problem of our national railways, at least that will help, that will support the poor. I support raising additional funds through fast food tax, through sugar tax. The reasons have already been expanded by other Members, so I will not spend time on that. 

         In conclusion, I would like to further appeal for urgent disbursement of the funds that would have been allocated to various ministries and to buttress the issue of supporting the Women's Bank, we want to check what the problem is. The problem is our women, our SMEs sector need support. This can only be done through the empowerment of institutions like the Women's Bank. We will be able to reach it if we do our best, analyse the problem and solve it step by step, just like baby steps.  Thank you, Madam Speaker. 

         +HON. M. NKOMO: Thank you for affording me this opportunity, Madam Speaker. I will talk about what was said by Hon.  M. Ncube in this august House when he presented the 2025 budget. Hon. Speaker, I will touch on education, health and childcare. 

         Primary and secondary education got 6.6 billion ZiG which is 14.5%.  Schools can be constructed or upgraded from those funds. Looking at improving the children's education and paying for teachers, looking at modern technology, the El Nino phenomenon, and climate change, schools can be assisted in feeding children. Now, talking about sanitary wear, it can be purchased so that these girl children do not leave school because they are having their menstrual periods. There should also be construction of buildings to accommodate disabled children. 

On the Basic Education Assistance Module (BEAM), the scheme should be removed from the Public Service Commission, it should be channeled to schools.  Last year, they were owed 63 million. Now, looking also at higher and tertiary education, teachers want to further their education so that they can instruct their children properly. The monies that are channeled to training teachers should be, maybe half of it should be channeled to BEAM. 

         So, BEAM can be channeled to Form 4 students because we have seen a case whereby Form 4 pupils are told that their fees have not been paid by BEAM. So education got 68 billion, which is 12.4% and yet, last year, they got 9.2%. The Government expenditure in 2025, only increased by 3%. This money should assist children to further their education.  Here, I am talking about those children who are benefiting from BEAM. BEAM has not been functioning properly and we have realised that parents have also been failing to pay fees. 

         Now looking at roads, these should be constructed. We have seen that there are trees that are near roads and those are what cause most of these accidents. Those trees should be cut. When those trees have been cut, the money generated from the trees should be taken to the schools to assist children in schools. Most of the schools in the rural areas have no chairs, benches or desks and yet there are plenty of trees that are causing accidents and killing people along the roadsides.  

         And now, coming to ZIMSEC. Debts that are owed by ZIMSEC should be paid so that examiners are paid timeously.  We are being told that the examiners were said to have been too tired to mark because they were not being paid. 

         Village healthcare workers work with the communities in the villages.  These health workers should be assisted by the Government.  The Hon. Minister should ensure that funds are allocated to those people.  Yes, they may not have salaries or wages as such but this should be something that can incentivise them to work.  Medicine should also be availed in rural clinics.  Funds should be availed to rural hospitals, people should not be requested to attend hospitals in cities only because it is expensive for them to travel there.  We are saying that village healthcare workers should be assisted.  There is what is called primary healthcare.  Primary healthcare should also include the workers plus medication.

         Then there was sugar and fast-food tax – that should also assist when it comes to health.  It was said that these funds would assist the Ministry of Health and Child Care.  These funds should not be diverted to other areas and should only be allocated to the Ministry of Health and Child Care.  Thank you.

         HON. GANYIWA:  Thank you Madam Speaker.  Good afternoon.  I rise to submit my observations as well as my recommendations throughout my contribution.  Let me start by appreciating the Hon. Minister of Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion for the budget that he presented to us.  I strongly believe that he tabled this budget out of scepticism from false voices and echoes that are full of propaganda that want us to believe that Zimbabwe, as a country, is overtaxed. I will prove this point as I submit my recommendations.  I probably believe that the Hon. Minister may need to look at other areas that should not be overtaxed but there are a lot of areas that are not even paying tax at all.

         Madam Speaker, it is an accounting principle that we should not increase expenditure before we increase our income.  It is a principle that applies everywhere.  All these countries that we emulate and regard as first world economies in terms of infrastructure, fund all that we admire through their own pockets, through the taxation of their citizens.  Therefore, I am sure  it is high time that we should not debate about the taxation subject with mercy. 

         Let me start with agriculture Madam Speaker.  In my view, agriculture and where we are, should have been allocated a much bigger budget for us to have food security as a nation, as well as retaining our yester year glory of being Africa’s breadbasket.  Therefore, we will also increase the foreign currency when we start selling our surplus to other countries.  It is obvious that we can get money from capitalising on other people’s problems.  This drought is real and it seems we are going to endure it in the years to come.  Therefore, if we ringfence and allocate more money to our agriculture sector as well as to restore our position of feeding Africa, we will get more money that will be further channelled to our economy.

         Madam Speaker, let me say a lot has been done by the Government in trying to assist the farmers through the Presidential Input Scheme.  I think vice versa, there is  less that goes towards appreciating this gesture especially, for instance, A2 farmers at some point.  Why am I saying so?  In order for the Hon. Minister to increase revenue collection, although some of the issues are going to be a subject on its own.  He should start taxing all the land. Any individual who owns land that he or she is not utilising, the Minister should make sure that the land is taxed or levied per hectare.  This will address situations whereby people who want to farm and ensure that our country is food secure but they do not have land.  So, if the Hon. Minister introduces levies to every portion of land one has, it will force people to let go or stop people from holding on to land that they are not using.  Land is Government property and the Government should collect revenue from that land.

         Madam Speaker, I also propose that a special fund within the ministry’s budget allocation should be ringfenced towards making sure that we fund the irrigation sector, especially areas where there are water bodies.  We should make sure that, because of climatic conditions and the current drought that we are facing, we have a special fund that goes to all the irrigation systems in and around the water bodies.  I once stated in Bulawayo, during the Pre-budget Seminar, that we need to get to a point whereby we criminalise unutilised land around water bodies in order for us to put a safety net to our food security.  The Government and the Hon. Minister should start implementing that unapologetically.  This will address the situation whereby land is allocated to people who have an appetite for production rather than appetite for just building homes.

         Madam Speaker, I do not want to dwell much on Small to Medium Enterprises.  Other Hon. Members have spoken about it but the Hon. Minister should embrace this sector and make sure that they are contributing a lot and therefore, buying vehicles as municipal police or even our police for chasing after these people may not help us but to ensure that they are also included in the sector. 

Let me touch on the mining sector.  I strongly believe that our debate should be centerd on how we can get revenue that can fund this budget because often times it is the MPs who will be complaining of the poor service delivery in their constituencies.   If we are not going to be aggressive and tell each other the truth that we should at least create revenue from amongst ourselves, we will be voted out of power to some extent because of the same people that we are serving.  They are consuming from propaganda that government is failing to deliver but the same people are telling our people that we should not be taxing our people.  Who should be giving us the money then if we do not tax our people?   It is a hidden agenda and propaganda telling our people that our citizens are overtaxed.  Recently, I was in Europe and everything you pay for and expensively.  I realised that we are still playing here. 

Madam Speaker, there seems to be a lot of conflict between mining and agriculture governing regulations, rules and laws.  I think it is not spared from what I have said about the agriculture sector.  There are mining companies with huge claims that they have never utilised.  When you go there you are told it is a claim for so and so and you go there and you get the same answer.  No problem, have as many claims as you like but Minister, you must start levying these people on all the unutilised claims so that we get revenue until they release the claims to those who wish to use them.

 The Ministry of Mines should also have an unutilised allocated special fund specifically to purchase ICT gadgets and system software that can be installed on all mining companies exit points such that we will know how many tonnes these trucks will be carrying on exiting.  Therefore, we minimise the human interface that will perpetuate or promote corruption.  This is the cheaper way for us to make sure that we get what we are supposed to get as a country because everyone is witnessing the trucks damaging our roads in our constituencies yet they are not paying anything.  They are exiting with a lot of unregulated points, so there should be set aside a special fund that mandates and compels any mining operation to start existing only when they install those gadgets on their mining exit points and as a way for them to get their licences.

Let me now move to ICT.  I am just giving bits and pieces.  There is no doubt that giving enough funding to this Ministry will enable them to digitize the government and the whole economy and this will reduce this human interface.  We are getting less revenue because the system, even if you go to Passport Office or those other parastatals, they are being done manually and I am sure the first priority ensures that the E-government becomes a reality before we go any further or before we start thinking of disbursing this budget that we are debating about.  It will guarantee us getting more revenue because the moment you put museyamwa to receive certain money or to negotiate on anything that needs to be paid, we are also increasing and giving an opportunity to perpetuate corruption within our system.

Let me now move on to Housing and Social Amenities.  In the 2024 budget, there was a proposal to tax the second home of individuals and companies.  I remember vividly that I debated and said we should not tax a second home but should go beyond that and make sure that we tax the rentals as they are just free income.  If you go around, you see a lot of mushrooming cluster homes where people can go and do their deals. They can build as companies or individuals and this money is tax free because the government does not get anything.  The Minister should also make sure that we go for the rentals and we have got other private sector players such as insurance and pension funds.  The Hon. Chief Whip alluded to that and if you go to Westgate, there are buildings that are empty.  If you check, you will find that some of these companies’ agenda is to perpetuate capitalism.  They do not even care whether those buildings are occupied or not because they do not pay anything.  They are hiding behind the same laws that we created on our own yet we have our people who are looking for space to work from.  So if the Minister puts a policy that compels all these businesses to pay taxes on rentals, it will help.  On individuals, I propose that a second, third or fifth home can be exempted only if one has got a legal or authorised polygamy.  This will help our country whereby people are not going to have hidden polygamy – [Laughter] – We should go and register if you want to be exempted from not paying tax for the second and third home. You should go and register to the marriage officer so that you can be exempted.  If not, you should pay. 

The reason why I am debating this issue is whether you are that side or that side, you need to go to the constituency where the electorate is happy.  Let me leave it there because it looks like I am stepping toes.   To the vacant stands, I am still on the property issues – there are a lot of speculators who are masquerading as property developers.  People buy huge land.  I hope the Hon. Minister is listening to what I am saying.  People buy big land and they go five years without developing the land.  We are saying if the Minister also starts levying after each and every two years of purchase of a stand without having it developed, people will make sure that they develop and at the same time we enhance the look of our city.

THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER (HON. MAUNGANIDZE):  Your time is up Hon. Ganyiwa. 

         HON.  NYATHI: Thank you very much Madam Speaker for affording me the opportunity to also add my voice on the National Budget discussion.  I would like to highlight to the Minister of Finance the following points:  I will not delve into numbers. I will just highlight issues as I go.  I am sure everyone has got the numbers readily available to them on the reports that have been shared.  I would want to talk about the limited focus on economic diversification and the over reliance on mining.  The Budget is heavily reliant on the mining sector, which is vulnerable to global commodity price fluctuations.  We have noticed of late the prices of platinum and lithium which Zimbabwe is number 2 producer in Africa.  The prices have declined significantly and this has resulted on a heavy impact on the mining sector.  The companies that are involved in platinum and lithium mining have been severely affected by the fall in the prices.  This has also impacted on their operations, which then ends up impacting also on the Minister’s revenue purse.

         Let me talk about issues to do with mining and why I support the proposed Budget by the Ministry which I think the Minister should revise upwards significantly.  We have a problem with the way our EPOs are currently operating.  We need to capacitate the Ministry in order for them to solve the issue of Exclusive Prospecting Orders which we call EPOs.  We need a review of the EPOs.  We need time bound exploration and implement stricter time frames for exploration activities to prevent land hoarding and encourage timely developments.

         There are various companies around the Great Dyke that have not develop anything in the past five or more years but they are still holding on to that land and nothing is happening to them.  I suggest that we capacitate the Ministry of Mines and Mining Development so that they can look at ways of effecting stricter measures on people that hoard land without any development.

         We also need to look at performance-based renewal of these EPOs.  We must tie the EPOs renewal to specific milestones in performance benchmarks ensuring that the holders are effectively contributing to the sector.  We must also look at multiple EPO holders.  We must allow multiple entities to explore the same area; foster competition and accelerate development versus what we currently have where only one EPO is licensed to explore a particular area.  We need to create competition around so that people can move with speed.

         On transparency and accountability issues, the Ministry needs funds to conduct regular audits of mining operations to ensure compliance with regulations and environmental standards.  The Ministry also needs to strengthen the governance institutions to ensure accountability and prevent corruption.  We have a very serious problem with mineral leakage in this country.  In all the workshops that we have attended as a Committee, it has been raised that the Ministry is incapacitated to enforce the laws of the land.  We need to make sure that we capacitate the Ministry of Mines and Mining Development so that they can enforce these regulations that we have that will protect us from the mineral leakage scourge that we have.

         I would like to give the Minister some good examples of countries in Africa that are reliant on mining like Zimbabwe: South Africa, according to research that I have done, it matches gold , diamond, platinum and chrome; Congo mentions copper, cobalt and diamonds; Botswana only talks of diamonds; Ghana we talk about  gold and bauxite; Zambia we talk about copper; Angola we talk about oil and diamonds;  Namibia we talk about diamonds and uranium;  in Zimbabwe we talk about gold, platinum, chrome and diamonds – four major minerals that we mine in this country but there is nothing to show for all this.  Mali only produces gold; Guinea only produces bauxite.  

         I am trying to highlight this so that we understand how rich as a country we are and why we need to look at mining as a cash cow that can generate more money for the country if it is funded properly and well.  We need to have a serious look at mining and see how best we can optimise mining in Zimbabwe so that you can also have a larger tax base where you can collect money from.  The way that we are operating at the moment is too informalised.  You are not getting what you should be getting because of the informalisation that is happening currently.  There is no monitoring or accountability.  We need to move with speed particularly on the artisanal gold miners. I think there is a lot of room for improvement for the small-scale gold miners where if we put proper structures, we can harvest more revenue from the small-scale miners. If we look at the statistics, the small-scale miners are actually the largest producing sector more than the formalised sector of which we know the How Mine, the Shamva Gold and all other mines.

We need to formalise our regulations so that we cater for the artisanal miners which I believe we are not taxing properly at the moment.

Mr. Speaker, our energy sector is in doldrums. We currently as a nation have an installed generating capacity of 2600 megawatts. According to the research that I have done, we are only able to generate around 1 500 megawatts as of today. The country’s demand at the moment is 4 000 megawatts. We are only producing around 1 500 megawatts, which means the bulk of that is imported and is also being load-shedded across the country.

The Hon. Minister needs to have a look at this sector because this is the engine sector of growth. We need ZESA to be alive, I do support the coming in of IPPs but if I look at what ZESA is producing, 1 500  megawatts against 4000 megawatts, what we require as a nation, it means that if we allow IPPs to fill this gap then ZESA is going to be almost redundant. In about five years’ time, we are expecting our demand to go to around 5 200 megawatts. If ZESA does not do anything about the 2 600 megawatts that it can produce, then it means ZESA will be overtaken by IPPs. This will not be a good state. I believe the Hon. Minister needs to look at this quite seriously because energy is the engine of any economic development. There is nothing that can happen without power.

I was looking at countries like South Africa and Botswana, the research that I did is; while there is still load shedding in the communities, the mining sector which is the backbone of the economy does not get load-shedded. We had an opportunity to visit South Africa recently and the enquiries that we made were that for over 18 months they have not been load shedding. It is only a major fault that occurred but there is no load shedding and they do not have their own solar systems like we have with our large platinum producers (ZIMPLATS) where they are installing solar firms and others. They are relying merely …

HON. TAFANANA. ZHOU: On a point of order Mr. Speaker Sir.

THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: What is your point of order?

HON. TAFANANA ZHOU: Thank you very much, the Hon. Member is pre-empting the report which is to be tabled in this House as a result of a tour conducted in South Africa. Thank you.

THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: Hon. Member, you can continue to debate but with that which has not been brought to the House.

HON. NYATHI: Thank you Mr. Speaker. Where I am just trying to go or highlight, the Hon. Minister of Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion, is that investors would tend to look at an attractive destination. If someone wants to come and invest for instance in gold mining and the budget they have for that is maybe 500 million, in Zimbabwe they still have to look at 200 million for their own power production. This is what I am trying to highlight that the Minister must look at this seriously to say we might be losing on investors because we cannot provide power. People want to come to Zimbabwe to invest, to do the mining but now if we have to put the burden on them again producing power for us, it becomes more expensive.

The benefits of improving our power generation capacity will obviously result in less load shedding hours or no load shedding at all, which then also promotes industry because if we go around the industrial areas like in Bulawayo where I come from, during the day time most of the industries do not have power and that means that there is no production. The Minister does not have anywhere to tax to get the revenue because there is no production happening. We need to really look at power generation quite seriously because it will change a lot of things economically.

We also need to look at power as a source of revenue. If we generate more power, we can export it to neighbouring countries. This becomes a source of revenue to the country. We are not only supposed to look at what we need as a country, we need to look at producing excess so that we can make money from that. I was looking at the projects that we have at the moment that should augment the power problem. We have got the Batoka Gorge, which is along the border with Zambia.  It is projected to give us 1200 megawatts but this only comes, according to the report, in 2034. So you can imagine between now and 2034, we will not have this power, we are only considering this probably in nine or so years’ time, it is too far, we need to get moving on other alternatives that can mitigate the crisis.  The other project that we have is the Devils Gorge, which will add another 1200 megawatts but this is only expected in 2040.  Vaye vakati 2030 vanenge vachipo, iri vacharisiya vasina kuriona.  So, we need to move with speed to make sure that we cover these energy gaps because all these projects that we are looking at are long term projects…

         HON. TAFANANA ZHOU: On a point of order.

         THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: What is your point of order?

         *HON. TAFANANA ZHOU: Thank you Hon. Speaker, can the Hon. Member confine himself to the debate and that he retracts his statement when he was trying to make his explanation so that we understand him. 

         THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER:  Hon. Member, you can continue with the debate but do the proper thing.

HON. NYATHI: Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir.  In the interest of time, let me look at the short-term solutions that we can proffer to our energy sector.  We need to move with speed Hon. Minister in the rehabilitation of existing plants.  We need to prioritise rehabilitation and maintenance of our existing plants at Hwange Power Stations.  We know the Government has come in and assisted in Hwange 7 and 8 upgrades, but we need the other units as well to be upgraded as soon as possible so that we can have optimal output out of these units. 

         We also need to invest in renewable sources of energy.  The speed at which we are currently moving with the wind energy studies is not convincing.  We need to move quite fast with that because that is a low hanging fruit.  Once the results are obtained, we can start implementing these projects and start seeing a reduction in load shedding hours.   We need to upgrade our power grid, we need to invest in the modernisation of the national power grid to minimise transmission losses and improve distribution efficiency. This we are getting from the report that we got from ZETDC leadership when we visited them. The losses are a little bit on the high side, so we need to improve our grid so that we minimise on the losses.  We need to promote energy conservation.  If we move around in town, we see in some building, the lights will be on, we need to change the way that we use energy.  We need to start conserving energy.

         THE HON. TEMPORARY SPEAKER: Hon. Member, you are left with two minutes.

         HON. NYATHI: Let me wrap up Hon. Speaker Sir.  We need also to implement energy efficient technologies and support the adoption of efficient technologies.  If you look at some of the Government buildings, there are still using old lights that consume a lot of energy.  We need to conscientise everyone, particularly the Government departments to lead by example in conserving energy.  We also need to explore other avenues like natural gas, bio-mass energy, the new solar cells that have just been discovered, which are twice as efficient as the silicon based solar cells that are currently used to manufacture solar panels.  We need also to study the pump hydro storage system that the developed countries are currently using.  We also need to look at green hydrogen which is being used now in other countries to produce renewable energy.  I thank you Hon. Speaker.

         HON. TIMBURWA: Thank you so much Hon. Speaker, firstly I would like to appreciate the Hon. Minister for the national budget and I also want to appreciate all the Hon. Members that have debated so far.  Firstly, I would like to streamline my debate and focus on two matters that were raised by the Minister.  The first one was the issue to do with the deductibility of royalties.  Mr. Speaker, the taxation of royalties is a critical element in balancing the Zimbabwe’s drive economic for economic growth, innovation and investment attraction.  Whilst regarding the integrity of our tax system, current legislation allows for deductibility of royalty payments or track mark patents and technical services.  While this provision fosters knowledge transfer and resource utilisation, it also presents a challenge, the limited availability of operable transactions makes it very difficult to assess whether the payments are aligned with fair and arm’s length principles.  In an era where Base Erosion profit shifting poses a significant threat to developing economies like our Zimbabwe, I think we must ensure that royalties reflect genuine economic value and are not used as tools for tax evasion or profit shifting by multi-national enterprises.  Its required elevation, solutions and forward-looking frameworks strike the right balance between incentivising businesses and protecting Zimbabwe tax base.  I will therefore highlight the technical challenges paused by limited comparability proposed actions or measures or address them and emphasise the need to align our policies with international best practices. 

         Mr. Speaker Sir, the deductibility of royalties and similar payments or trade mark patents and technical services plays a pivotal role in fostering innovation and attracting investment.  However, the limited availability of comparable transaction presents a significant challenge in ensuring that these deductions align with fair and arm’s length principles, especially in transactions involving related parties.  This issue is particularly acute in our country due to limited access to robust, local and regional data on royalties compounded by the unique nature of some industries and resources.  The base erosion and profit shifting multi-national enterprise may exploit this limitation by inflating royalty payments to related parties and low tax jurisdiction, effectively eroding our tax base and our revenue collection measures.

         There is the issue of data gaps and benchmarking.  Zimbabwe lacks a comprehensive data base of royalty transactions for benchmarking. The unique nature of Zimbabwe’s natural resources transaction for benchmarking is making it difficult for ZIMRA to access the reasonableness of claims.  Unique resource attributes:  the unique nature of Zimbabwe’s natural resources and intellectual property often means international benchmarks do not fully apply further complication comparability of royalties.  I also propose this Hon. Speaker Sir, I think through the good office of the Hon. Minister, we need to adopt profit-based evaluation approaches.  When comparable transactions are unavailable, ZIMRA should prioritise profit based methods such as Transactional Net Margin Method and Profit Spilt Method. These methods assess royalties based on the profitability of the business activity rather than requiring direct comparables. 

         We also need to develop a centralised royalty database, establish a national royalty and licencing data base to collect and aggregate information on royalty across industries, collaborate with regional bodies like within the SADC whist we are also the Chairman of the SADC to share data and create more extensive benchmarking tools. Addressing the scarcity of comparable transactions and we can also introduce safe harbors by implementing safe harbor rules that seek standardised threshold or caps of royalties deductions by industry, reducing the administrative burden of verifying every transaction while protecting against excessive deductions.

         We can also strengthen transfer pricing regulations, enforce stricter transfer pricing audits and documentation requirements for royalty transaction ensuring they adhere to OECD guide lines of our BEPS. Provide guidance on acceptable methodologies for determining royalty rates when comparable are unavailable. Then we can also do sector specific royalties which can target the Ministry of Mines or the mining sector, the agricultural sector. For industries prone to BEPS risk such as mining or technology introduce sector specific caps from royalties deduction related to revenue of BEPS. This provides to safeguard against exaggerated deductions while maintaining competitiveness in the market.

         Then advance pricing agreements: encourage the use of advance pricing agreements between taxpayers and ZIMRA to predetermine royalty rates for specific transactions. This will ensure clarity and reduces disputes whilst addressing the challenge caused by limited comparable. The impact on revenue protection on addressing loopholes arising from scarcity of comparable Zimbabwe can minimise revenue loses caused by BEPS. It can also ensure that royalty deduction reflect genuine economic value rather than artificial arrangements for tax avoidance. It also helps us in transparency,  dependability, predictability and stability.

A standardised transparent approach to royalty deductions will build confidence around tax payers while providing clarity for ZIMRA and alignment also with international standards. Strengthening transfer pricing enforcement aligns Zimbabwe with OECD BEPS action plan in return which focuses on arms length in the pricing of intangibles including royalties. Mr. Speaker Sir the issue of limited comparable transaction is a significant and a technical challenge but it is not insurmountable. I believe by adopting top based methods leveraging data sharing initiatives and including data sharing initiatives and introducing safer harbors we can ensure that royalty deductions remain fair and transparent. These measures would protect our tax base whilst constant environment conducive to invest and innovation in the growth of our economy.

I also want to touch on another point that the Minister highlighted in the budget which is enhanced post clearance audits. I fully support the Minister’s proposal on enhanced post clearance audits and introducing monthly report from the commissioner to treasury. This is not just a technical adjustment but a critical intervention on addressing one of the biggest threats to our economy smuggling and customs inversion. Mr. Speaker Sir post clearance audits are fundamental tools for ensuring accountability in our trade systems. They involve the systematically import declaration after goods have been declared and their role in detecting under declarations misclassifications and outrage smuggling could not be overstated. The current legislation empowers ZIMRA to conduct these audits but as a nation we must ensure these PCAs becomes continuous processes and a way of life not just an occasional operation.

Countries like Kenya and South Africa have successfully industrialised robust PCA systems and the results speak for themselves. In Kenya for example, improved PCAs is led to a 20% increase in customs revenue in just one year. Zimbabwe also achieves similar results by strengthening our PCA framework. Smuggling is costing this nation an estimated figure of about 1.5 billion annually particularly in sectors like fuel, alcohol and electronics. This is revenue we cannot afford to lose Mr. Speaker Sir. The proposal for monthly PCAs reports to Treasury is a game changer and I would try and explain why. Firstly, it ensures consistent monitoring of revenue recovery efforts and allows us as a nation and the Treasury to track trends in non-compliance. This data can guide us in revising tariffs targeting high risk goods and allocating resources more effectively to combat smuggling.

Secondly, it fosters accountability within ZIMRA, ensuring that every dollar recovered is properly accounted for and that systemic weaknesses are addressed properly. Thirdly, it equips treasury with real time insights that are vital for data driven policy making. We cannot afford to operate blindly in this error where it provides us with tools to be used in a more efficient way. Mr. Speaker Sir the proliferation of smuggled goods is not just about revenue loss it is a dagger to the heart of our economy. Smuggling undercuts local industries discourages investment and destroys job creation. For example we can look in the cement sector despite its bulk nature we see cement flooding our markets with prices that do not align with production and transportation cost.

This is clear evidence of smuggling and it is killing our local producers. Furthermore, smuggled goods particularly food, medicine and alcohol bypassing health and safety checks endangering public health. As legislators we have a duty to protect our people and ensure a level playing field for all traders. Mr. Speaker Sir as I am rounding up to truly combat smuggling we must embrace technology and I propose to the good office of the Minister that Zimbabwe fully digitise its PCA systems by integrating them with platforms like ACY world and even exploring the use of block chain on track of goods from origin to destination. Technology alone is not enough we need strong deterrence. Let us impose harsh penalties on offenders including significant fines and criminal charges. Let us also ensure that this indicative list of deemed smuggled products alcohol, cement as being stated by the Minister is rigorously enforced with smuggling documents evidence to customs compliance.

Mr. Speaker Sir by enhancing PCAs and institutionalising   them as part of our customs culture, we can achieve increased revenue collection closing the budget deficit and funding critical sectors like health sector, education and infrastructure and broader tax base as compliance increases across the board. Fair competition for local business encouraging industry growth and creating jobs. In conclusion smuggling is not just an economic issue it is a national security threat and a challenge to our sovereignty. The Minister’s proposal to enhance PCAs and introduce monthly reporting is a step in the right direction.

In conclusion Mr. Speaker Sir to achieve zero tolerance for smuggling and inversion we must implement a multi agent approach in ZIMRA, the Police, Military and intelligent services working together. This requires intelligence driven operations, leveraging advance technology like surveillance drones and GPS tracking real time monitoring. We need joint training programmes for all security agencies to enhance capacity in detecting and preventing smuggling. Stringent penalties must be imposed and internal audits should ensure accountability with security sector and ZIMRA included.

Strengthening border security with non-inclusive inspection systems and enhancing communities will further detain legal trade. Only through these integrated can we secure a fair transparent and drive the economy. I call this House to support these measures suggested by the Minister wholeheartedly and urge the responsible authorities to implement them swiftly and effectively. Zimbabwe cannot afford to lose another dollar to smuggling.  Let us decisively and deliberately protect our economy our industries and our people. I thank you Mr. Speaker Sir.

         HON. MAUNGANIDZE: Thank you for giving me the opportunity to rise today with great optimism and urgency to contribute to this debate on the 2025 National Budget, aptly themed, “Building Resilience for Sustained Economic Transformation.” As representatives of the people, we are duty bound to ensure that the aspirations and challenges of our citizens are addressed in the policies we advocate for. Nowhere is this duty more critical than in our focus on the empowerment of women and youth who are the most vulnerable in our communities.

Women and youth are not just beneficiaries of our economic policies; they are architects of Zimbabwe’s future. They constitute a majority of our population, brimming with potential, ambition and resilience. Yet they face systemic barriers from limited access to resources and opportunities due to deep-rooted socio-economic inequalities. These barriers are not only unjust but also economically detrimental to a nation striving for sustainable development.

Empowering these groups is not a favour; it is an investment in the nation’s prosperity. When women and youth thrive, the entire country flourishes. My contribution today will centre on concrete strategies for channeling the budget to empower women and youth and the transformative impact of such empowerment on Zimbabwe’s socio-economic fabric.

To effectively champion the empowerment of women and youth, it is critical that key ministries are allocated not just sufficient budgets, but also tailored financial resources to execute transformative initiatives that address specific challenges faced by these demographics. The Ministry of Women Affairs, Community, Small and Medium Enterprises Development must be capacitated to scale up its programmes supporting financial inclusion through expanded microfinance schemes, mentorship initiatives for women entrepreneurs and rural development projects that bolster women-led co-operatives. This funding should also extend to advocacy campaigns addressing socio-cultural barriers hindering women’s full participation in the economy.

The allocation of ZiG1.02 billion to the Ministry of Women Affairs, Community, Small and Medium Enterprises Development in the 2025 National Budget is a laudable move towards empowering marginalised communities, particularly women and small to medium enterprises (SMEs). This provision reflects a commitment to fostering inclusive growth by addressing systemic barriers that hinder these groups from reaching their full potential. By channeling these resources into critical initiatives such as financial inclusion, entrepreneurship training, and market access programmes, the Ministry can create transformative opportunities that uplift women and SMEs, thereby contributing significantly to economic development and social stability. Such targeted interventions are essential in reducing inequalities and promoting sustainable livelihoods across Zimbabwe.

However, while this allocation is an encouraging step, there remains significant scope for improvement to achieve even more impactful outcomes. The challenges faced by women and SMEs, ranging from limited access to capital and technology to socio-economic constraints, demand a more substantial and strategic investment. An increase in the allocation could enable the Ministry to scale up its initiatives, particularly in rural and underserved areas, ensuring that no one is left behind. Furthermore, prioritising capacity-building and integrating women and SMEs into value-added production chains could amplify the multiplier effects of this investment. Let us use this budget as a platform to demonstrate our commitment to an inclusive economy where every Zimbabwean regardless of gender or social standing, has the opportunity to thrive.

Equally, the Ministry of Youth, Sport, Arts, and Recreation requires substantial investment to foster innovation, creativity and entrepreneurship among young people. With enhanced budgets, the Ministry can establish modern youth innovation hubs, provide grants for tech start-ups and develop sports academies that double as talent incubators. This would ensure that the nation's youth are not only employable but also creators of employment in industries such as technology, renewable energy and agribusiness.

The allocation of ZiG1.02 billion to the Ministry of Youth Empowerment, Development and Vocational Training in the 2025 National Budget is a commendable step towards addressing the pressing need for youth-focused development programmes. This funding provides a significant opportunity to invest in projects that empower our young people, equipping them with skills and resources to actively contribute to national development within the various sectors of our economy. By prioritising initiatives such as vocational training, entrepreneurial support and innovation hubs, the Ministry can transform the lives of millions of youths, unlocking their potential as drivers of technological advancement, economic growth and social progress.

However, Mr. Speaker Sir, while this allocation is a move in the right direction, there remains significant room for improvement in the budget to achieve even greater impact. Considering the vast challenges faced by the youth, including high unemployment which results in drug abuse due to being idle, limited access to resources and inadequate infrastructure, an increase in allocation would allow for the expansion of these initiatives to reach more beneficiaries, particularly in marginalised areas. Moreover, additional funding could enable the establishment of robust monitoring and evaluation frameworks to ensure transparency and measurable outcomes. Let us use this budget not just as a foundation, but as a stepping stone towards fully unlocking the potential of Zimbabwe’s youth, recognising that their empowerment is an investment in the future of our nation.

We applaud the innovative decision to ring-fence revenues from initiatives such as the sugar tax and fast-food tax, recognising these as strategic steps towards addressing pressing societal challenges. By dedicating these funds to critical areas, we can tackle some of the most urgent issues affecting our youth and women. A portion of these ring-fenced financial resources can be channeled towards establishing and equipping rehabilitation centres for young people grappling with drug addiction and mental health challenges. These centres would not only provide necessary medical and psychological support but also create pathways for reintegration into society through skills development and counselling. This initiative is both timely and necessary as we witness the growing impact of substance and drug abuse on our communities.

Furthermore, we urge that part of these funds be directed towards modernising cancer treatment infrastructure, particularly for cervical cancer which continues to claim the lives of many women in Zimbabwe. Statistics reveal that cervical cancer remains a leading cause of mortality among women, making it imperative to invest in state-of-the-art diagnostic and treatment machinery. This investment would significantly enhance early detection, treatment efficacy and overall survival rates. By leveraging the sugar and fast-food tax revenues in these targeted ways, we are not only addressing immediate health crises but also laying the foundation for a healthier, more resilient nation. Let us embrace this initiative wholeheartedly, ensuring that these funds are managed transparently and effectively for the benefit of the most vulnerable in our society.

The critical role of mining in driving Zimbabwe’s economic growth cannot be overstated, especially in light of the El Niño phenomenon which has significantly affected agricultural output. Mining has emerged as a key pillar of our GDP, demonstrating resilience and immense potential for expansion. However, to fully realise this potential and maximize its benefits, there is an urgent need to channel more funds towards mining exploration. Increased investment in exploration will unlock untapped mineral resources, catalysing industrial growth, creating more jobs and significantly enhancing revenue streams for the country.

Additionally, prioritising mining exploration is a strategic avenue for empowering our youth. By dedicating resources to this sector, we can establish skills development programmes and employment opportunities, enabling young people to actively participate in the mining value chain. Exploration activities also pave the way for attracting foreign direct investment, fostering technological innovation and diversifying our export base. Therefore, I appeal to the Minister of Finance to consider increasing the budgetary allocation for mining exploration and the Government to continue empowering the youth involved in the mining sector. This investment is not just about the mining sector; it is about creating a sustainable economic ecosystem where agriculture, mining and other industries complement each other for the broader benefit of all Zimbabweans.

Why Empowerment Matters

Mr. Speaker Sir, empowering women and youth has undeniable advantages:

1. Economic Growth: Studies show that achieving gender parity could add billions to national GDP. Youth participation in the economy accelerates innovation and productivity.
2. Social Cohesion: Empowered women stabilise families and empowered youth are less likely to engage in criminal activities or social unrest.
3. Resilience to Shocks: Inclusive development ensures communities can better withstand economic, social and environmental shocks.

In concluding, let us seize this budget as a transformative tool to unlock the potential of Zimbabwe’s women and youth. Let us recognise that investing in them is not a cost but a dividend; a dividend that pays out in stronger communities, a dynamic economy and a brighter future for all.

I urge this House to adopt a resolute focus on recalibrating resource allocation to ensure that these groups are no longer overlooked. Together, let us build a Zimbabwe that is resilient, inclusive and prosperous. I thank you.

         HON. CHINANZVAVANA: Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir for recognising me.  May I take this opportunity to first of all applaud the Hon. Minister of Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion on the optimistic, forward-looking presumption of the 6% growth.  It gives us hope. 

         The ambitious growth target of 6% indicates that the Government is actively seeking to avoid stagnation and we pray Hon. Speaker Sir.  May I hasten to say, the nation acknowledges the consideration given to the education sector, the 56.96 billion which is over 20% of the Abuja Declaration is commendable.  Only save to say this amount will be eaten up by employment costs leaving very little if not none for infrastructural development.

         It would help Hon. Minister to allocate funds for resources and infrastructure separately because if we look into this one, the 20.6% which is supposed to be of the educational sector is in a way for public service because it is being gobbled up by employment costs leaving us with nothing to do with infrastructure in education. If that maybe considered Hon. Speaker Sir, it would help us to have a separate fund then for infrastructural development in our education sector.

         It is encouraging to realise the consideration of the climate resilience Budget considering the need to be in sync with SDG 13 and natural resource management.  Unfortunately, Hon. Speaker Sir, the area of weather, climate and seismology got allocated 40.21% of what the ministry bid for.  Considering the unquestionable threat of the vagaries of nature, climate change, it would have been prudent to re-consider that allocation as we know climate change affects us all.

We may face anytime the El Nino which we have faced in prior years and if this area is not ready, then we may have to suffer running around at the last minute and that also will come up to the Hon. Minister’s budget as he would need further impromptu budget reviews. 

It would have been prudent to consider the allocation as we know climate change affects us all as the budget is inadequate to address the broad mandate in light of climate change, especially when looking at the issue of early warning systems.

When everything has been considered, it would help a lot to relieve the Ministry of Environment Climate and Wildlife budget by at least releasing the mandated carbon tax to the Ministry as mandated by Section 46 (e) of the Environmental Management Act [Chapter 20:27] in totality to the Ministry of Environment Climate and Wildlife. 

This may help in this budget that we are saying, it may not be enough for all costs of the Ministry of Environment Climate and Wildlife budget but if they receive their mandated statutory funds, you may see that even the bid that they give to the Hon. Minister maybe lowered if they realise that they still have the funds from the carbon tax, the tobacco levy and as well as the afforestation fund.  If they have those, it would help the Hon. Minister to then with ease, lower down the expenditure that they give to the Ministry of Environment Climate and Wildlife.

The fund is realisable because it a mandatory.  It is a priority area that has already been ring fenced.  The Forestry Commission needs the afforestation fund as this is already statutory disbursed for them.  Unfortunately, for the past decade, it has never reached the ministry.  May we appeal to the Hon. Minister of Finance Economic Development and Investment Promotion that if this is done, it will alleviate a lot of the burden that the ministry has and that it would now come back to him to ask for further funds.  If they already have the ring fenced funds, it can be allowed to be released to them. It would also alleviate the burden. 

If we go into these ring fenced funds – if they are really ringfenced, it would be a very good measure for all of us.  We also talk of the new sugar and the fast-food tax. Sometimes we call them ring fenced but at most they may not come back.  We would be happy if by end of term or by mid-term we get to review how much would have been collected and how far it would have helped to relieve the cancer burden cost and other health related issues. 

The part of being ring fenced is what we are appealing to the Minister to walk the talk.  The ring fenced funds should go to the purpose that it has been ring fenced for. Then we may not come back at midterm and as well appeal and clamour for extras on the budgets of areas that we already have money on. 

On the issue of the Women’s Affairs budget – if we are really to walk the talk, to commit to women empowerment and eradication of poverty, Mr. Speaker Sir, there is need to reconsider the 0.4% allocated to the Women’s Affairs Ministry. There is a lot they need to improve, there is a lot they need to cater for.  If you improve the life of a woman, you will have improved the life of a household. 

So, in order for them to grow, I think 0.4%, if we may appeal to the Hon. Minister, that will also just end to employment costs in the ministry.  No notable development or projects would be carried out of the 0.4%. 

On agriculture and food security as well, we think Government should prioritise providing women with necessary equipment and training to succeed in the Pfumvudza Programme to ensure food security to every household. 

Having said and done, yes, we know we are leaving no one behind, but if we carry everyone aboard with only hoes to do agriculture in this century, it may not be enough.  There is need for infrastructure and a bit of mechanisation in order for the women to regrow food for their household.  If we do that, it may really alleviate poverty line in food security. 

Mr. Speaker Sir, in order for me not to repeat what has been said by others, I may just rest my case.  I thank you.

 

         HON. KANGAUSARU:  Thank you very much Mr. Speaker Sir for giving me this opportunity. I rise to contribute to the debate on the 2025 National Budget and commend the Minister of Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion for crafting a budget that seeks to balance fiscal prudence with social and economic development goals.  The proposed revenue enhancement measures demonstrate a commendable effort to mobilise resources and expand the tax base.  It is critical that we assess their implications on businesses, consumers and vulnerable groups.  I will examine some of these measures in detail and propose recommendations to ensure that their implementation achieve the desired outcome with minimum unintended consequences. 

         Mr. Speaker Sir, the proposal to introduce a 10% withholding tax on betting is both timely and progressive, aligning with global best practices.  Ghana imposes a similar 10% tax on betting while Kenya applies a higher 20% and South Africa levies a 15% tax on winning above ZAR25 000.  This demonstrates that Zimbabwe is adopting a measured approach that is in line with international standards.  However, Mr. Speaker Sir, it is important to recognise that the betting sector already faces multiple layers of taxations, including VAT on takings and winnings.  This multiplicity of taxes could negatively impact the vulnerable groups, particularly the unemployed who often turn to betting as a means of survival.  To that end, I propose the introduction of a threshold for taxable winning such as USD100 to ensure that tax targets significant earnings while sparing low income bettors.  This approach would not only encourage compliance but also promote equity in the taxation system. 

         Another notable measure is the 0.5% tax on fast foods, which is a laudable effort to address public health concerns associated with the consumption of demerit goods.  This tax is unlikely to impose a significant financial burden on consumers.  For example, a pizza costing USD$8.50 would see a marginal increase of only USD0.04.  However, to maximise the impact of this policy, I recommend that the revenues generated from this tax be ring-fenced and allocated specifically to public health programmes.  These funds could support initiatives to combat non-communicable diseases such as diabetes, hypertension and obesity which are often linked to unhealthy diets. 

         Mr. Speaker Sir, additionally, the introduction of 20% plastic bag tax is another commendable policy aimed at promoting environmental sustainability and reducing plastic waste.  This measure aligns with global trends as seen in South Africa, which recently increased its plastic bag levy from ZAR0.25 to ZAR0.32 and the European Union which imposes a tax of EURO0.80 per kilogramme on non-recyclable plastics.  In Zimbabwe, where the average plastic bag costs USD0.10, a 20% tax translates to just USD$0.2, an amount that is both affordable for consumers and significant for promoting environmental consciousness.

         However, this policy could have adverse effects on the plastic manufacturing industry, potentially leading to job losses.  I urge the Government to adopt a phased approach to implementation, giving manufacturers time to transition to biodegradable materials.  Additionally, the Government should implement policies that incentivise recycling such as tax holidays for recycling machinery businesses or import duty exemption on biodegradable packaging and recycling machinery.  Taxation alone is insufficient to address the plastic waste; a comprehensive approach is essential.  Mr. Speaker Sir, the plastic waste menace requires complementing taxation policies with policies that incentivize and promote recycling initiatives and the adoption of biodegradable materials. 

         The proposed 25% rental income tax on properties converted to business use is another revenue-enhancing measure that requires careful consideration.  While the objective of widening the tax base is commendable, this policy is likely to disproportionately affect tenants who are already compliant taxpayers.  Landlords may simply transfer the tax burden to tenants thereby increasing the cost of doing business.  This could discourage the growth of small-scale enterprises that are critical for economic development.  I recommend that the Government adopts a gradual implementation strategy or consider providing deductions for maintenance and operational costs incurred by landlords.  This would help balance the need for revenue generation with the imperative of supporting economic activity.

         Furthermore, the inclusion of emerging sectors and SMEs in the tax net is a welcome policy that ensures vertical equity and broadens the revenue base.  However, the proposed tax rates are prohibitive and could discourage compliance, thereby defeating the purpose of the policy.  It is  important to note that SMEs also face significant challenges in adopting fiscalisation due to the high initial costs of devices, connectivity and data.  To address these issues, I propose that the Government offer tax incentives and amnesties to encourage formalisation and compliance.

         Furthermore, the Government should consider providing subsidies for fiscalisation infrastructure and offering capacity-building programmes to help SMEs maintain proper records and meet their tax obligations

         Mr. Speaker Sir, the proposed VAT exemption on LPG is another measure that requires careful analysis.  While this exemption is intended to make gas more affordable for consumers, it may have unintended consequences for local gas manufacturers who would be unable to claim input tax.  This could result in locally produced LPG becoming more expensive than imported gas, thereby disadvantaging local producers and increasing reliance on imports.  This might have a negative multiplier effect on employment and gross domestic product.  To address this issue, I recommend that LPG be zero-rated instead of exempted.  This approach would ensure that consumers benefit from lower prices while protecting the competitiveness of domestic manufactures.

         On the expenditure side of the 2025 National Budget, this House acknowledges the critical role of capital expenditure in fostering sustainable economic growth and transformation, particularly in line with the 2025 National Budget theme, “Building Resilience for Sustainable Economic Transformation.” Capital expenditure, which includes investments in the infrastructure, particularly in the energy, transport and communication, agriculture, mining and education sectors which serve as a catalyst for productivity enhancement, employment creation and private sector growth.

Prioritising capital spending to at least 20% of the total budget will address Zimbabwe’s infrastructure deficit, unlock economic value chains and bolster resilience against external shocks. Furthermore, this House emphasises the need for conducive policies to encourage Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) in infrastructure development. By leveraging private sector resources, expertise and innovation, PPPs can complement Government efforts, ensuring efficiency, cost-effectiveness and timely delivery of critical projects.

         As the multiplier effects of such investments enhance aggregate demand improves the ease of doing business and attract foreign direct investment, this strategic realignment is imperative to ensure that the budget delivers on Vision 2030 and aligns with the National Development Strategy 1 by fostering inclusive, equitable and long-term economic transformation.

Mr. Speaker Sir, these measures reflect the Government’s commitment to mobilising domestic resources and addressing critical challenges in public health, environmental sustainability and economic growth. However, their implementation requires a balanced approach that takes into account the potential impact on businesses, consumers and vulnerable groups. I urge the Minister to carefully consider these recommendations to ensure that the 2025 National Budget achieves its objectives of fostering inclusive growth, promoting equity and driving sustainable development. 

         THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: Hon. Members, at this juncture I direct that we suspend business to allow Hon. Members to go for dinner.  We will resume at 2045 hours to continue our business.

         Business was suspended at 1950 hours and resumed at 2045 hours.

         THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: Let us resume our debates.

         +HON. MACHANGU: Thank you Hon. Speaker.  I also want to applaud the Minister of Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion for the Budget presentation.  I will not take much time; I will just be brief. 

         What excites me from the budget is the growth of the economy which is going to increase by 6%.  Firstly, I will briefly debate the Ministry of Higher and Tertiary Education, Innovation, Science and Technology Development’s allocation.  I am glad that the Hon. Minister gave the Ministry a lot of money that exceeds 20%, which is above the Dakar Declaration.  Let this continue because education is very important in our areas, even in the areas where we are coming from.  It was not clear to me if we checked at Public Sector Infrastructure Investment Project (PSIIPs) because we realised that in the Ministry of Higher and Tertiary Education, some colleges are being left behind in that area of PSIIPs. 

When we talk of regional equity in education, there are some colleges, almost 21 of them not properly placed in this budget on how they are to benefit from the allocation.  I will isolate four of them, the colleges that have just been established in the Higher and Tertiary Education. The college in Binga should also get an allocation.  Some have just graduated from these colleges.   Then there is also Plumtree College, my prayer is that Plumtree College should get its allocation so that the higher and tertiary education is spread to all areas.

 If you go to Chivi District, there is also the same issue that colleges should get money through the PSIIPs.  In Matabeleland North, there is Hwange College which should have an allocation.  This is all I can say in terms of Higher and Tertiary Education. Other issues have been raised before like the salaries for teachers.  

         Let me go to the Ministry of Agriculture.  Yes, it was allocated more funds but I plead with the Ministry of Finance that this allocation be increased because the season and the climate are seemingly against our hope as there is no hope that we are going to harvest this coming season.  If we were going to get money for food and increase our food reserves.

         Still on Agriculture, I want to say that there is an allocation that will be aligned to the construction of dams.  I pray that these dams be constructed on time.  This money should be allocated towards the construction of these dams so that the livelihoods of people can be changed.

         I also want to comment on the revenue measures.  I was excited when Hon. Ganyiwa spoke about people with a lot of houses and that they should be taxed.  I realised that the Minister of Finance had put 25% in line with those people who had multiple houses and who also changed the use of these properties. 

         On the issue of ICT.   I was not happy because this Ministry got an allocation of only 0.23% of the National Budget. I do not know, as we are emphasizing the issue of technology using Wi-Fi, cell phones, and Artificial Intelligence how we are going to progress with this 0.23% allocation. As a nation, we were expecting that the Hon. Minister would increase it to 0.5% so that we can interact with other nations. Since our President is the Chairperson of SADC, it means we should continue getting in touch with a number of nations, hence I plead that the ICT should get an increment to their allocation.

Still on that, for my last contribution Mr. Speaker Sir, the Minister of Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion, my prayer is that these allocations should get to the people instead of him just mentioning the allocations on paper. My prayer also is for the money to be disbursed earlier.  If we can get the money during the first quarter of the year, it will be better so that we can use the money accordingly. Above all, I praise the Minister of Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion. We support the budget.  Let the budget pass as we support it. Thank you.

HON. G. K. HLATYWAYO: Thank you so much Hon. Speaker for affording me the opportunity to debate this very crucial subject that speaks to our financial plan on how we intend to spend and earn money in the coming year.

My starting point Hon. Speaker, is to assess the credibility or plausibility of our budget assumptions as presented by the Minister of Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion for they are the foundation on which a budget is built. Without a robust and realistic set of assumptions, this budget will not go anywhere as this will affect our ability to focus and plan accordingly. Allow me Mr. Speaker to speak to just two of the budget assumptions.

The first assumption that I wish to speak to is the assumption that in the coming year we are going to have a stable exchange rate. Experience is the best teacher Mr. Speaker Sir.  Government introduced a new currency in April 2024 due to the high inflationary environment.  On 27^th September 2024, Government devalued the new currency, the ZiG by 43%, weakening the exchange rate from 13.9 ZiG per United States Dollar (USD) to 24.4 ZiG per USD. The devaluation was prompted by the need to contain resurgent exchange rate pressure. The ZiG has further weakened to over 26 ZiG per USD with the black-market rate as high as 44 ZiG per USD, further raising speculation that the ZiG will continue to weaken.

The exchange rate volatility is further exacerbated by the fact that the National Budget is in ZiG and not in a stable currency like the USD. To then propose that a stable exchange rate would be one of the key budget assumptions is not supported by historical data and therefore, difficult to understand later on to believe. Government departments are worried as the appropriated funds can easily become nothing due to inflation.

For the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, for example, the effect is even more severe because 80% of their expenditure is in foreign currency. The Minister of Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion should consider presenting the budget in a stable currency and disbursing in local currency at the prevailing rate on the day of disbursement to lock value and ensure the various departments implement their programmes.

Let me go to the second budget assumption Mr Speaker Sir, which is on tight Government expenditure and revenue-related policies, the issue of fiscal discipline.  In 2024, despite the bids that were approved by Parliament, some Government departments overspent. The expenditure outrun of burn rate as of September 2024 that the Hon. Minister presented before this House, shows that at least seven departments were above their approved budgets, and this includes the Office of the President, the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Resettlement, the Ministry of Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage, the Ministry of Energy and Power Development, the Ministry of National Housing and Social Amenities, the Public Service Commission, as well as the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission.  

I also take note of the budget deficit of plus $6.1 billion in the budget.  Given this situation of over-expenditure and taking into consideration that these statistics are only up to the end of the third quarter because they were up to the end of September, it is extremely difficult to see how credible the assumption of fiscal discipline is a plausible one.

Let me go to my third point Hon. Speaker, which speaks to the growth projection of 6% in 2025, against an average of 3.3% for the SADC region.  Given the economic challenges Zimbabwe is facing, including the impact of the El Nino induced drought, we would like to submit that it is overly ambitious to think that in 2025, we are going to get 6% in terms of economic growth.

In 2024, the Ministry of Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion projected a 3.5% economic growth and this was later revised to 2% on account of the El Nino induced drought. With the current power supply challenges that are severely affecting productivity, among other challenges, it is difficult to see how 6% will be achievable.

Let me transition to my fourth point, which is to assess how far this budget that was presented by the Minister of Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion in supporting the vision of an upper-middle income country.  The World Bank estimates that Zimbabwe needs growth rates of between 8% and 9% every year in order to achieve upper-middle income status by 2030. So, even at the ambitious 6% growth rate, you know it is still below the rates that are needed to get to an upper-middle income status. A growth rate of 8% to 9% also requires significant movement in dealing with binding

constraints to productivity, including dealing with the ease of doing business, as well as addressing the energy question.

The budget only allocates 0.09% of the National Budget to the Minister of Energy and Power Development whilst the introduction of the new taxes is affecting the ease of doing business in Zimbabwe. One of the key characteristics of an upper-middle-class country is the creation of quality jobs Hon. Speaker. The budget makes little effort to create jobs in the economy, later on quality jobs.

Countries that have transitioned to upper-middle income status have reduced their poverty levels, created more jobs, increased access to health, housing, education and social protection. The budget as presented, fails to address these issues Hon. Speaker, and it will be very difficult for us to achieve the vision of an upper-middle income status by 2030.

Allow me to speak to whether this budget speaks to the citizens' needs.  It has been branded a citizens' budget. To what extent is it a citizens' budget? Over taxation of the citizenry. Each year over the past few years, new taxes are being introduced to the already burdened population.  Whilst the need for domestic mobilisation of resources to support Government expenditure is understandable, it is my submission Hon. Speaker, that introducing new speakers to a population that has limited disposal income is to be insensitive to the plight of the masses and especially the poor.

The fast-food tax is also coming in at a time when citizens are still suffering from the effects of the El Nino induced drought.   The first quarter of 2025 being the lean season, when six million Zimbabweans are expected to be food insecure.  In my opinion Hon. Speaker, the timing of the tax, despite its health benefits, was not well thought-out.

The betting tax is also insensitive to the impoverished citizens who do not have jobs and are looking for opportunities to fend for their families. The tax situation is further worsened by the experiences of yesteryear, where ring-fenced funds such as the sugar tax, carbon tax and tobacco tax have not been used for the purposes that they were set up for.

Allow me to also speak to issues around corruption and accountability. The new tax averse attitude by citizens is made worse by the continuation of revenue leaks, illicit financial flows, smuggling and diverting of ring-fenced funds such as the one I have already alluded to.  Transparency International estimates that Zimbabwe has lost a whooping US$32 billion in the last 20 years to illicit financial flows and yet limited resources have been allocated to institutions such as ZACC, AG’s office, ZIMRA and even to this very House to ensure accountability and oversight.

In terms of health, it falls below the Abuja Declaration threshold of 15%.  It also represents a regression from the 14.9% budget allocation in 2024.  It is even against the Constitutional Human Rights Principles of progressive realisation that we have in our Bill of Rights.  In terms of education, whilst the budget attains the Dakar Declaration threshold of 20%, I bemoan the highly skewed nature of capital versus recurrent expenditure with the majority of the Education budget going towards salaries at the expense of building schools and acquisition of books. 

In terms of social protection, it is 3.79%.  The allocated resources for social protection fall below the 4.5% threshold under the 2008 Social Policy for Africa.  Allow me to transition to issues around poverty period for girls.  I associate with the call for more funds for pads for young women.  Mensturation is not an option and Government must support young girls in this regard in the interest of gender equity and equality.  On the Women’s Bank, capital injection is needed to ensure women access meaningful loans in the interest of addressing historical imbalances between men and women.

 I have also noted issues around the recurrent expenditure versus the capital expenditure.  The presented budget is a recurrent budget as opposed to a capital budget, recurrent expenditure amounting to 87% of the budget whilst capital expenditure amounts to 13% of the budget.  This limits economic growth and economic resilience and does not reflect the economic transformation needed to get to an upper middle-income status. 

My last issue relates to the debt overhang.  I agree with those that argue that a huge debt on its own is not an economic red flag as getting loans for social services and to boost economic productivity might be beneficial to citizens and the economy.  However, I am of the view that our failure to service our debt resulting in penalties is concerning.  At USD21.1 billion as of September 2024, Zimbabwe’s unsustainable total debt stock is now a key inhibiting factor to economic progress.  Government must implement key economic and political reforms without delay under the structured dialogue platform process and the arrears clearance and debt resolution in order to unlock new external concessional financing.  I so submit.

*HON. HUNGWE:  Thank you Mr. Speaker.  My observation is that a lot of points have been raised and I am going to zero in on two issues.  The first one is on smuggling.  The Minister did very well by suggesting that cement and other products should be deemed to have been smuggled until it is proven that the goods were not smuggled.  If we were to do it internally, it would not give us good results because the people that are supposed to monitor will end up allowing such goods to be smuggled into the country.  Let us stop smuggling at the border and around the border areas.  We should ensure that the sector has funding to prevent smuggling rather than try to stop smuggling in Gweru or Harare.  That will not give us good results.  If this happens at the border area, the goods that will come in will have been properly declared.

Then coming to ZIMRA, the manpower is inadequate.  They go for road operations and the offices are left unattended and we end up giving them a lot of work which is beyond the capacity of the staff that they have.  In short, I am saying that let us strengthen our borders and areas around the borders so that we can curb smuggling before it takes place. If one is to be arrested almost in Harare after travelling all the way from Beitbridge through Masvingo, we will have failed ourselves by not dealing with the issue at the border area. 

Then on the issue of SMEs which are said to be not paying taxes, the Minister put figures for presumptive tax.  My view is that we should reduce the percentage of presumptive fees and concentrate on registering the SMEs using Councils or their Unions to register them.  We engage them bit by bit so that in the end we receive a lot of money rather than chasing after them.  In most cases we end up with the budgeted figures but without any collection being made.  We urge the Minister to revise the figures so that the people are encouraged to pay the low figures.  We should look at processes whilst we are getting money slowly but surely.  I also want to talk about importers. 

I have statistics that show that we have about USD9 billion worth of imports. If such people can import through our local banks, it will assist us in ensuring that the cash that was being taken out of the country for the goods will now be retained in the country.  So, the Minister should encourage these importers to pay through the formal banking system so that we are able to track if they are paying taxes for their goods and it helps us to have an idea of the sales that they are making.  I propose that those that take cash out should still be taxed and I propose a 10% tax for commercial goods that will not have been paid for through the banking system. 

In short, I would want to say that we run a cash economy and people actually take money out to go and buy goods and this promotes tax evasion.  We also have companies selling goods to SMEs in cash then they give out false receipts. So if payments are made through the bank we will be able to check if they are paying the taxes.  I support the Minister to increase the tax so that those who import but do not pass through the bank should pay 10% of not following the law.

         On our local currency, we are lagging behind on use of our currency.  As Government, we should encourage the nation to use our currency.  I propose that all fines and licences should be paid in our local currency to encourage use of the ZiG.  Bank charges are too high…

*HON. MADZIVANYIKA: On a point of order Mr. Speaker, I implore the Hon. Member to use one language.  He is mixing English, Shona and Shonglish.  It distorts the message.

THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER:  Stick to one language Hon. Member.

*HON. HUNGWE:  Thank you Mr. Speaker.  I will now turn to the issue of procurement. We observed that some of these laws are outdated.  They now require to be amended from the time of advertisement and tender system taking a long  delays us in using the money that has been budgeted for such projects.

During our budget consultations, people were urging that devolution and CDF funds be increased.  I propose that these should be given preference as they are also involving the 210 constituencies as each Member is given a certain allocation.  The cake is spread throughout the country unlike other disbursements.  We urge the Minister to revisit the funds that he is going to allocate and that these receive priority in the allocation of the budget.

In conclusion, I would want to urge the Minister to look into the issue of toll gates.  There are certain areas without these toll gates.  In terms of revenue collection, from here to Chiredzi, there is one toll gate yet you travel for almost 400 km.  From Ngundu to Chipinge, you travel for 400 km and there are no toll gates.  We urge the Minister to look at such areas so that we have toll gates and boost the collection of revenue that will maintain our roads.

We also urge our Minister to look into the aspect of dams.  This has already been talked about and I would just buttress.  We should be in a position to ensure that they deliver and harness water so that the local people can irrigate from irrigation schemes. I thank you.

*HON. TSITSI ZHOU:  Thank you Mr. Speaker for giving me the opportunity to add my voice to the motion before this august House as we debate the budget.

As a woman, I will start with the issue of the Women’s Bank. It is a microfinance bank.  Once it is deemed a micro finance bank, it means the interest rate will be more.  Women are finding it difficult to pay the 10% monthly interest.  What the women are now doing is that they are now turning to the Women’s Development Bank and community development fund which are housed in the Ministry of Women Affairs who pay 10% annually as interest.  If it was possible, the Women Development and Community Development Fund should be increased so as to assist a lot of women. The plea is that the Women’s Bank should be a bank that operates on the same level as the other banks and should not be a micro finance.

I would also want to speak on the issue of our budget – if it is a pro-people budget that looks at addressing the people’s problems, he should focus mainly on issues that promote the youth, self employment among the youth and the women.  I would want to thank His Excellency the President, Dr. Emmerson Mnangagwa and his Cabinet for coming up with the policy that in every district or local community, there must be solar powered boreholes so that people do market gardening which will be self-sustenance.  These gardens are now functioning and a lot of young women are now benefiting.  It is also beneficial to those with disability.  The hand pumping boreholes were not user friendly to the disabled.  I hope that the Government puts more money to ensure that every area has a borehole by 2028.  This can only be achieved if ZINWA has adequate funding for the repair of their rigs and fuel so that the work can be easily conducted for them to have equipment and ancillary products like solar panels.

I will turn to the amounts that should be increased to the Ministry of Environment.  Zimbabwe is our country and belongs to the citizens.  There are those that come and work and assist us in the mining. It is important that the revenue that is raised from the activities be higher because we end up inheriting pits and environmental degradation. We would want more money to be put into the rehabilitation of mines. If a lot of money is going to the Ministry of Environment, Climate and Wildlife and their agencies such as EMA, that would be most useful. Again, the Ministry of Environment was also requesting as they do not have adequate tools of trade such as work places and motor vehicles.

The Ministry of Mines and Mining Development gets a lot of funding from the Ministry of Mines. In fact, in terms of our Gross Domestic Product, it is increased because of the Ministry of Mines. If you look at their requests for last year and this year, it is the same, they do not have adequate tools of trade and provincial offices. Some of their offices are rented premises. The motor vehicles that they have are now very old so the fleet cannot work properly to execute the duties that they are expected to discharge. In order for them to have exact and correct pegs, they need to do mining inspections. This will resolve the conflicts that emanate from issues of demarcations.

In Zimbabwe, mining is not developed much because of mining disputes. Hon. Minister, we also have the issue of Cadastre System which has been outstanding for a long time. This was an issue in the 9^th Parliament that the Cadastre System be put in place so as to resolve the issue of mining ownership disputes. The Mines and Minerals Bill which we are anticipating in this august House …

HON. SAGANDIRA: Point of order Hon. Speaker!

THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER (HON. NGULUVHE): What is your point of order?

HON. SANGANDIRA: Mr. Speaker, the Hon. Member should address the Chair.

THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: Hon. Zhou address through the Chair.

HON. TSITSI ZHOU: Thank you Mr. Speaker, let me be guided accordingly. The issue of Mines and Minerals Bill is an important issue which His Excellency, the President talked about when he gave the State of the Nation Address in the First Session and Second Session of the Tenth Parliament. He stressed that it was important that the Bill be brought before this august House and implored the Minister, Hon. Chitando to ensure that we work hard so that the work of this august House is properly carried out. Hon. Speaker, it is my plea that the Hon. Minister gives sufficient funding to ensure that this Bill comes to this august House.

In conclusion, Hon Speaker, the money that was allocated to the Parliament of Zimbabwe should be increased. We have workers that work at this important institution. Our Bill should also look at their welfare and their remuneration. They need to be motivated. The Constituency Development Fund (CDF) allocations should come in time. There should also not be conflicts arising from the Hon. Members as to why one has been given the funds and others are given later. It should be done systematically at the same time …

HON. ZVAIPA: Point of Order Mr. Speaker.

THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: What is your point of order?

HON. ZVAIPA: My point of order is that Hon. Zhou should be given more time so that she can say more on the issue of welfare of CDF.

THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: Hon. Zhou continue.

HON. TSITSI ZHOU: Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir, as I have said earlier on, I am going to talk about the Ministry of Energy. Hon. Speaker, for a country to run smoothly without actually referring to Zimbabwe, we need energy. We should know as a country that as an agro-based economy whose main business is agriculture, because of agriculture or drought, it is good for us to have water bodies or dams. In the majority of areas where we live, the water that is in the dams is not being used. It will require a lot of energy, whether hydro or solar, to extract the water from these water bodies to be able to be effective in agriculture.

We also need energy in our homesteads, darkness destroys family time. I urge the Hon. Minister that the budget for the Ministry of Energy be increased. I thank you.

         HON. SHIRIYEDENGA: Thank you Hon. Speaker for this opportunity.  I would like to start by thanking the Minister of Finance for the budget and also for the ambitious growth of 6%, showing that as a Minister and his Ministry, they have commitment in terms of growing the economy.  As I progress with my debate, looking at the budget theme, ‘building resilience for sustained economic transformation’ which is important.  However, as I look at recurrent expenditure versus capital expenditure, I see a worrying discrepancy there. 

         The reason why I say so, noting that the recurrent expenditure is 87% and capital expenditure is 13%, what that literally means is that we are not projecting investment as a country.  When looking at the theme of building resilience and economic transformation, that theme talks of investment.  Surely, we cannot invest in a country where they are pooling a lot of resources towards recurrent expenditure and that is a cause of concern, Hon. Minister. My fellow colleagues also spoke on the assumption with regards to the 6 per cent growth.  I also share similar concern for example on the exchange rate.  The budget does not clearly show what exactly the measures to curtail the exchange rate are. 

         If you look in 2023, we passed a budget and four months down the line our local currency crushed.  We had to devalue our currency and also introduced ZiG. That in itself shows some challenges with regards to issues around exchange rates and inflation as well.  The other thing is this 6% growth also hinges on normal to above rainfall. We are in December, Mr. Speaker and our rain season is projected to end in March.  So far, with the projections that are there, clearly, we are facing challenges, whether it is bound to be drought in some areas.  The projected maize yield or whatever agricultural yield is definitely going to go down. For us to make assumptions to say there is going to be 12% growth rate in agriculture then that is a cause for concern.

         Surely that 6% projected growth, we are not going to achieve it.  And also going to the national debt.  Last year, our debt was at 18.3 billion and as we speak today it is over 21 billion.  Clearly our debt is going up and what measures are there to service our debt.  The Budget should have strongly spoken to those measures.  Ultimately, they do affect the projected 6% growth rate which the Minister spoke about. On the issue of inflation as well, we look at how it affects the economy,   line ministries, and the ordinary person out there.   When the currency was devalued, it was devalued by about 43% and that devaluation, it impacted on line ministries.  Remember we also had challenges with our procurement processes as ministries, they take long. 

By the time whatever need to be procured, by the time it gets approved, what it literally means is that the amounts will be eroded by inflation and then that affects the ministries in terms of the procurement of goods and services.  Even salary negotiations for civil servants we all know that salary negotiations take long.  By the time an agreement would have been reached, whatever percentage that would have been agreed upon will be eroded by inflation.  So those are some of the concerns that the budget would have addressed and also cushioned the ordinary person against the inflation movements and also the issues around the exchange rates.

Going on to the issue of budget utilisation and fiscal discipline when we were in Bulawayo during the pre-budget seminar, the Hon. Minister presented – [HON. MEMBERS: Audible interjections.] – can I be protected Hon. Speaker Sir.

THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: Hon. Tsvangirai and your colleagues, you are disturbing your own colleague who is debating.  Please proceed.

HON. SHIRIYEDENGA: Thank you for protecting me Hon. Speaker Sir.   When we were in Bulawayo, the Hon. Minister gave us a breakdown with regards to the budget utilisation.  My worry is that we had other ministries for example the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure which got 162% budget utilisation and also, we had OPC as well and the Hon. Minister for Lands and Agriculture, they got their allocation above the 100%.  What I literally mean was other ministries were short changed.  For example, I speak of the Ministry of Public Service, it got about 19.6% of its allocation.  Remember, we are in a drought season, we have over 2.6 million Zimbabweans that require food aid.  It is also the same ministry that houses BEAM.  So really, in terms of budget prioritisation and in terms of allocation of resources, I think the Hon. Minister should consider the needy ministries and not to eat into the share of other ministries.

The other issue which the ministries spoke about and even the Committee Chairpersons when they were presenting is the timeous release of budget.  I think that is another cause for concern. With regards to the education sector, the Hon. Minister did give the ministry resources which we commend.   We are glad to note that together with the Ministry of Higher Education, we have surpassed the Dakar Declaration of 20% allocation.

However, as noted by other speakers, the budget for employment costs is 82.3% meaning there is only 17.7% which is left for other programmatic areas in the ministry. This is why earlier on I spoke about the capital expenditures and recurrent expenditures which  the Hon. Minister really needs to look into.   Despite the fact that the employment cost eats much of the budget, the concern is salaries for our teachers are still very low. Our teachers in rural areas are living in squalid conditions.  So this is one area that we really need to focus on.  Also given the mega 17.7%, the Ministry Education and Higher Education also introduced new curriculum, Education 5.0 which hinges on issues round industrialisation, innovation and research. With this kind of a budget, I doubt  if the ministries in particular the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education will be able to implement this new curriculum.

We had a presentation from ZIMSEC, it is in a dire situation, it has a debt of USD33 million for the 2024 examinations.  What it literally means is from what they were saying, they will not be able to adequately ensure that our learners write examinations next year and also, they have a challenge with regards to their printing press. What it also means is that they would not be able to print examination papers. So that really is one other dire concern that we need to look into.

Then on gender affairs, I think my colleagues talked about the gender issues and what I simply want to reiterate is that when looking at leadership positions, women only occupy 30%. The Ministry of Gender came up with a gender policy to ensure that there is mainstreaming in the sector. We need to ensure that the Ministry has been allocated adequate resources to ensure that there is gender mainstreaming and also sensitisation projects.

Lastly Mr. Speaker Sir, I will speak on social security. You look at the Ministry of Public Service being given only about 4.4% of the budget. When we say this is a pro-poor budget, we are not being sincere to ourselves, given that this Ministry is the one which is responsible for vulnerable communities and the impoverished. We have about 2.6 million Zimbabweans that, according to the vulnerability and assessment report, require assistance. We have persons with disabilities, we have pensioners, elderly people that fall under this Ministry. Surely, the 4.4% allocated to this Ministry is inadequate and most importantly, BEAM is also housed in this Ministry. What it means is that BEAM is also part of that 4.4% and remember BEAM does affect the running operations in schools.

         We have other schools which have about 95% of learners under BEAM. What it literally means is that the schools will not be able to sustain its operations and fund themselves.

         THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: Thank you Honourable. Just a reminder, let us try and avoid repetitions.  If something has been covered already, let us try and avoid it for the sake of time, otherwise we will spend all night here.

         HON. PINDUKA: Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir. I would like to applaud the Hon. Minister of Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion, Hon. Prof. M. Ncube,  in my opinion, for a balanced, responsive, inclusive and pro-poor budget proposal that he tabled in the House for the 2025 National Budget. I will not dwell much on this debate since some of the issues have already been discussed but I will need to focus on three issues in my comments. To start with, a healthy nation and people also constitute the epitome within the theme of the National Budget that is building resilience for sustainable transformation.

         I will look at the Ministry of Health and Child Care just to start with. The 12.9/13% which was allocated to the Ministry of Health - Mr. Speaker Sir, I think it is commendable and also progressive if we look at the 9.82 which was allocated in 2024. However, you will see that as a nation, we are also signatory to the Abuja Declaration which  highlights that at least 15% should be allocated to the Ministry of Health. Reflecting on the figures, you will see that in the allocation for Ministry of Health and Child Care, about 77.5% of the 28.3 billion allocated to the Ministry of Health and Child Care is going towards curative services compared to public health care which got about 8%.

         In my opinion Mr. Speaker Sir, I feel that yes, curative services are important but if you look at curative services, we are looking at treating and managing illnesses, injuries, and diseases.  If you look at public health care, we are focusing on preventive diseases and promoting health and the population. In my view, I feel that the 8% on public health care needs to be increased to possibly over 30 or 40%, it will go a long way. If you also look at it, prevention is better than cure and public health care should also be our focus because at the end of the day, you see that over 60% of the  people of Zimbabwe live in rural areas and public health care, this is where we are looking at population centered care and community interventions at local primary health care systems, clinics at ward level. I think it will go a long way if the Hon. Minister would allocate an increase in public health care as compared to curative services.

         Then also if you look at statistics, 90% of the essential service delivery in the health care system is achieved through public health care system. In terms of awareness, you also see that we have actually this time around non-communicable diseases and in terms of awareness and disseminating awareness in most of our rural areas, you will see that public health care also needs to be funded. Awareness and non-communicable diseases can also be disseminated across our rural sectors in Zimbabwe.  Mr. Speaker Sir, I understand  that the health sector is just recovering from the shackles of COVID-19 pandemic but the outbreak of preventable diseases such as malaria, cholera, HIV and AIDS, tuberculosis among others, may also rise if public heath care is also under-funded.

         Madam Speaker Ma’am, the introduction of 0.5 tax on fast foods and also the reintroduction of customs duty on medical products previously exempted due to COVID-19, I think it is a welcome move by the Hon. Minister of Finance.

I will also focus on a second item where we are looking at Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Resettlement and will go straight to the dam construction projects. I feel that the two billion allocated on the dam construction is applauded by the Hon. Minister of Finance.

         However, I humbly submit that a different approach also be considered in terms of implementation of the projects.

You will see that we have quite a number of projects that are running but if we also focus on a number of dams, say, for example, in my opinion, I would feel maybe one per province, and also get that dam completed. I think, Madam Speaker, it also gives results. 

For example, Madam Speaker, you will see that we have Dande Dam, to be specific, in Guruve District, which is over 30 years in terms of implementation or construction. So, if that dam is considered, I think for 2025 and get it completed, I think next year we will also focus, for example, in Mashonaland Central Province where there are almost four dams that have been earmarked by the $2 billion. If we focus maybe on one or two, that is Dande Dam and the other, so that of those two at least one dam is completed, that will also give results unlike to have four projects running at the end of the day, which are even less than 40 percent, that will not give us results. You will see that climate change is upon us so getting one completed will also go a long way in making sure that water bodies can also be used for irrigation purposes.

So, Madam Speaker, I also move on to the Ministry of Youth and as well as the Ministry of Women's Affairs.  I also feel that, Madam Speaker, capacitation of the Youth Empower Bank as well the Women's Bank will go a long way as you can see that our economy is made up of small and medium enterprises. So, an additional allocation to these two very important institutions will also go a long way. 

Straight to the Ministry of Defence, Madam Speaker, I think recently we appreciate and also commend His Excellency, the President, Dr. E. D. Mnangagwa. We saw him recently commissioning flats in Dzivaresekwa for the Zimbabwe Defence Forces and an allocation of about $5 billion by the Hon. Minister of Finance is commended. However, on the constitutional and statutory obligations to the Ministry of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces that includes rations, uniforms and medical care, I think the allocation is not sufficient. If the Hon. Minister could also look at it and increase the allocation so that the men and women of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces who actually will be providing service for the country can also do it well.

From there Madam Speaker, I will also go to the Ministry of Veterans for the Liberation Struggle where we are looking at the $970 million that has also been given to this ministry.  An increase from $238 million is commendable but however, you will see that next year and I will go on the education part under this ministry. You will notice that 6,395 students need educational support Madam Speaker, at a cost of about $218 million. Ideally, you will see that a single term will cost about $72 million and this ministry has outstanding fees for the first term of about 10 million, 48 million and 52 million, a total of $110 million outstanding fees. So, I feel that if this ministry could also get an additional allocation, it will also assist in terms of making sure that the 6,395 students, which are supported by the Ministry of Veterans of the Liberation Struggle also remain in school.  Otherwise, they will not attend school as we get into 2025.  With these few remarks, I thank you Madam Speaker, for the opportunity. Thank you. 

*HON. SHONGEDZA: Thank you, Madam Speaker.  First and foremost, I would want to thank the Hon. Minister of Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion. He has a difficult act to discharge and we urge him to remain steadfast. We are pleading with you Hon. Minister for the Ministry of Health and Child Care because for everyone to be here, it is because they are healthy.  May you increase the budget to the Ministry of Health because our health is our well-being.  If you are not healthy, you are unable to do any work because there is also cancer which has wiped a lot of people in the communal lands. Every week we mourn a person or a relative who would have died of cancer.  We urge you to increase the funding in the Ministry of Health so they can be able to buy drugs, medication and equipment that detects people's ailments. 

I will go further and state that Hon. Minister, please closely examine the Ministry of War Veterans. For us to be in this august House, it is as a result of the sacrifice of the liberation war veterans. We urge that the pensions for the war veterans to be increased and the war collaborators are now tired of filling forms without any funds being disbursed to them.  We urge you Hon. Minister that the allocation of the Ministry be increased so that they may be able to get meaningful pensions.  They are using their own monies to exhume bodies of the fellow late comrades.

I thank you Hon. Minister and I will continue praying for you because you are doing your work very well.  I will go further and say that women are the mainstay of the nation. The Women's Bank…

*THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: Hon. Hlatswayo together with Hon. Tobaiwa, I plead with you to come and sit in the front seats.  Why?  So that when you shout, we will be able to hear what you are saying - [HON. C. HLATYWAYO: Madam Speaker…] - Well, I did not ask you to respond. I said come and sit in the front seats. I am not pleading with you. We want to do our work.

Please come and occupy the front seats. 

         *HON. SHONGEDZA: Madam Speaker, do not be stressed by people who are... 

*THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: Please, continue with your debate without commenting on the Speaker's statement.

*HON. SHONGEDZA: The Ministry of Women's Affairs, the women are the mainstay of the country.  Our plea Hon. Minister is that you increase the allocation to the Ministry of Women's Affairs.  They are the ones that look into the plight of hunger, the ailments of their husbands and everyone or anyone in between.  If the women are given money, they can open up factories that are involved in tailoring and other things that can give them a lot of money.

I go further and say Hon. Minister, maybe you will hear me because you are walking around.  Minister, I am talking about the Ministry of Transport. We have our roads, like the Ndonda Road which has for years not been attended to. May the allocation to the Ministry of Transport be increased?  The Ministry of Transport once saw this particular road.  He actually visited and inspected in loco. The dams like Semwa and dams in other provinces should also be allocated money. The road that I have talked about brings in a lot of funding because it is near the border. 

Let me also talk about the Ministry of Tourism, a new ministry.

Increase its allocation because tourism brings in development in the economy, economic development through tourists that come to the country.  Minister, this is an important ministry. With those few words, Madam Speaker, I thank you. 

         HON. MUSHORIWA: On a point of order Madam Speaker.

         THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER (HON. TSITSI ZHOU): What is your point of order?

         HON. MUSHORIWA: The Hon. Minister is not in the House Madam Speaker.

         THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: Hon. Mushoriwa, you should be aware that the Ministry has two Hon. Ministers.

         HON. MUSHORIWA:   No, but the Deputy Minister is actually engaged.

         THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: Order, Order! Hon. Mushoriwa, please take your seat. Hon. Tsvangirai, please continue with your debate – [HON. MEMBERS: Inaudible interjections.] – Hon. Mhangwa, I will end up ordering you to sit at the centre of the House.

         HON. ENG. MHANGWA: Madam Speaker, …

         THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: Order! I did not recognise you, take your seat.

         HON. ENG. MHANGWA: May you give me a chance to speak Madam Speaker?

         THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: No. Hon. Mhangwa, take your seat.  Hon. Tsvangirai, please proceed.

         HON. TSVANGIRAI: Thank you very much Madam Speaker for giving me the opportunity to add my voice to this critical and important discussion.

         Madam Speaker, the budget presented by the Finance Minister on 28 November 2024 is deeply troubling. Far from being a forward-looking plan for progress, it adopts a regressive approach that undermines growth, stifles job creation and neglects the aspirations of our youth. For the people of Norton and the nation at large, this budget is a stark reminder of the government’s failure to address our most pressing challenges and deliver hope for a brighter future.

Economic Growth, A Missed Opportunity;

Economic growth should be the foundation of any national development strategy. Sadly, this budget fails to inspire confidence, instead it adopts measures that restrict opportunity and penalise the very people it should uplift. The introduction of regressive taxes such as the fast foods tax, the betting tax, and the plastic carrier bag tax, places an undue burden on middle and lower income earners, including the hardworking people of Norton who are already grappling with inflation and unemployment.

         For instance, the 0.5% fast foods tax unfairly targets low-income families who depend on affordable food options. This tax not only exacerbates their financial struggles but also threatens small and informal businesses in the fast-food sector, many of which operate in Norton and provide critical livelihoods. Instead of addressing issues such as poor nutrition or encouraging healthier lifestyles, this measure penalises the most vulnerable members of our community.

Similarly, the 10% betting tax on sports betting winnings is poorly designed. While its intent may be to curb gambling and generate revenue, its unintended consequences will massively hurt young people. In Norton where unemployment remains high, many young people turn to betting as a risk yet accessible source of income. This tax, instead of offering solutions, pushes them further into economic despair without addressing the root causes of their struggles.

The projected economic growth;

 The projected 6% economic growth rate under this budget is unrealistic. It is based on overly optimistic assumptions and the adoption of tight fiscal and monetary policies that are contractionary. Rather than stimulating growth, these measures are likely to suppress economic activity by discouraging demand and discouraging investment. Without a balanced approach that promotes both macroeconomic stability and expansion, achieving this ambitious growth target will remain out of reach.

         On Job Creation: Supporting Small Businesses;

Honourable Speaker, this budget fails to create an enabling environment for job creation supporting small businesses. Small businesses, the backbone of Norton’s economy, are being penalised rather than supported. The plastic carrier bag tax, while environmentally justifiable, imposes a 20% levy that affects small enterprises that lack access to affordable eco-friendly alternatives. For many businesses in Norton already strained by rising operational costs, this tax could force them to shut down or pass the cost onto struggling consumers.

Another concerning measure is the 25% rental income tax on properties converted from residential to business use. In Norton where many entrepreneurs rely on converting parts of their homes into business spaces, this tax stifles innovation and discourages entrepreneurship. These small ventures are essential for diversifying our economy and creating jobs, but this measure effectively shuts the door on opportunities for growth.

Youth Empowerment: A Generational Betrayal;

The most disheartening aspect of this budget is its failure to address the aspirations of our youth. For the young people of Norton and across the nation, this budget offers no meaningful initiatives to combat record-high youth unemployment or equip them with the skills they need for a competitive job market – [HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear.] -

Instead of proposing bold investments in education, vocational training, or youth-focused employment programmes, the proposed budget introduces punitive measures like the betting tax. For the youth of Norton, this tax represents yet another obstacle in their fight for economic survival. The absence of initiatives to support youth entrepreneurship, provide access to affordable housing, or facilitate financing for start-ups is a glaring omission. Young people are not just the future of Norton; they are the future of our entire nation. Neglecting their welfare is not only shortsighted but also reckless – [HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear.] -

         Public Health: An Ongoing Crisis;

The government’s allocation of 785.9 million USD to healthcare, equating to just $49 per capita is wholly inadequate when compared to the World Health Organisation’s recommendation of $100 to $200 per capita for middle-income countries. For the people of Norton who face long queues at clinics, understaffed facilities and shortages of essential medicines, this budget is a betrayal –[HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear.]-

Health is wealth Honorable Speaker, yet this government continues to underfund healthcare while prioritising wasteful expenditures elsewhere. Without significant investment in public health infrastructure, accessibility and service delivery, the people of Norton and the entire nation will continue to suffer preventable diseases, subpar maternal and child health outcomes and limited emergency response capabilities.

Fiscal Discipline and Debt;

The budget deficit of $6.1 billion equivalent to 0.4% of GDP, and the national debt of $21.1 billion as of September, are deeply concerning. For the people of Norton, this growing debt burden threatens to choke future generations with unsustainable repayment obligations. Rising debt levels also increase interest obligations diverting critical resources away from investments in education, healthcare and infrastructure—sectors that Norton desperately needs.

Without urgent measures to reduce the deficit and stabilise debt levels, the borrowing ability of the country will be compromised, making it harder to finance critical development projects in constituencies like Norton. Fiscal discipline must not come at the expense of development but should instead focus on eliminating wasteful spending while prioritising investments that directly benefit the people – [HON. MEMBERS: Inaudible interjections.]

         THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER:  Please note that if you have anything to say, you have that right in this House, please rise and ensure that you switch on your mic and I will notice you.  If you shout you will be making noise in this House and there will be no progress.  Hon. Tsvangirai, please note that when you are here, you are not representing your Constituency only but you are representing the country.  Please continue to debate and see to it you represent the entire country. 

HON. TSVANGIRAI:  Thank you very much Madam Speaker.

 Recommendations: A Budget for the Youth and Norton

         Fast Foods Tax: Introduce selective taxation targeting unhealthy fast food options, exempting healthier alternatives. Simplify compliance mechanisms for small and informal vendors operating in constituencies like Norton.

         Betting Tax: Tax net winnings instead of gross winnings, ensuring fairness for low-income earners. Use revenue to fund gambling addiction programmes and youth empowerment initiatives in areas like Norton.

         Plastic Carrier Bag Tax: Provide subsidies for ecofriendly packaging production and incentivise businesses to transition to eco-friendly alternatives. Launch public awareness campaigns in communities such as Norton.

         Rental Income Tax: Implement a tiered taxation system, reducing the tax burden on small businesses and startups to foster entrepreneurship and job creation.

         Youth Employment: Introduce youth-focused programmes in Norton, including skills training, affordable housing initiatives and access to financing for small businesses.

         Healthcare Investment: Significantly increase healthcare funding to meet international standards and address the urgent needs of communities like Norton.

         HON. KARIKOGA:  On a point of order Madam Speaker.  You did warn the Hon. Member that once you walk in you are representing the country not our respective constituencies.  May you please, order the Hon. Member to consider the country first not the Constituency? 

THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: Thank you Hon. Karikoga.  Hon. Tsvangirai please continue with your debate and ensure you represent the country. 

HON. TSVANGIRAI:  Thank you very much Madam Speaker. 

Conclusion: A Budget for the Few, Not the Many

         Honorable Speaker, this budget is a missed opportunity to foster growth, create jobs and empower the youth of this country. It burdens those who are already struggling while neglecting the sectors that hold the key to our future prosperity.  Instead of harsh taxes and regressive measures, the Government should focus on incentivising innovation, supporting entrepreneurship and investing in young people. This nation deserves a budget that creates opportunities, nurtures talent and fosters sustainable development.

THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER:  Are you responding to me Hon. Tsvangirai?  Please continue with your debate but ensure you are aware you represent the entire country, this is a national assembly. 

         HON. MASUKU: On a point of order Madam Speaker, we are having a problem that some Hon. Members were drinking beer outside there, like Tsvangirai. 

         THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER:  Hon. Masuku, if you are aware of any Member that was seen and captured by the camera taking alcohol and they are misbehaving in the House, please approach the Chair and tell me, otherwise we are going to allow Hon. Tsvangirai to continue with the debate. 

         HON. HAMAUSWA:  On a point of order Madam Speaker Ma’am.

         THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER:  A point of order on my ruling, can you take your seat Hon. Hamauswa?  I have not given you the floor, I have already made a ruling.  As I can see some Members of this august House are not really serious about the budget business taking place.  Can you take your seat and allow Hon. Tsvangirai to continue with his debate? – [HON. HAMAUSWA:  Hon. Tsvangirai is being abused by Hon. Karikoga, he said Norton and beyond...] Can you please leave the House Hon. Hamauswa – [HON. MEMBERS: Inaudible interjections.] - Hon. Member, I asked Hon. Hamauswa to take his seat several times, he is not respecting the Chair and therefore he should leave the House. 

         Hon. Hamauswa was escorted out of the Chamber by the Sergeant-At-Arms.

         THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER:  Hon. Tsvangirai, please can you proceed with your debate? 

HON. TSVANGIRAI:  Thank you Madam Speaker, this is not a budget for growth, jobs or young people - it is a budget that perpetuates inequality and punishes the vulnerable. I urge the Minister to reconsider these measures and propose a revised budget that works for everyone, especially the youth of Norton, who are the hope and promise of our nation. I so submit.

         HON. MAKUMIRE:  I rise on a point of privilege….

         THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER:  Hon. Makumire, please take your seat and please not that there are people in this House who are taking this business seriously and I urge you to do the same.  I am not going to take any points of privileges or any points of orders. 

         HON. MAKUMIRE:  On a point of order Madam Speaker. 

         THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER:  On a point of order, kana uchingonzwa kuti hauchadi zvemuno, please tibetsere, toda kuti basa renyika rifambire mberi. 

         HON. MAKUMIRE:  Madam Speaker, allow us to stand up and stretch a little bit because we have been sitting here for a long time.

         THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER:  It is a good idea, let us all stand up and stretch so that we chase away sleepiness.

         Members stood to do some stretches.

         THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: Thank you, let us all take our seats.  Thank you very much Honourable. 

         *HON. P. ZHOU: I would like to thank you for according me this opportunity to air my views after people’s stretching a bit.  I think they will all listen attentively. I would like to thank the Hon. Minister of Finance as well as Hon. Members who have been debating on this budget debate.   Let me say most of the information was debated but the way I can add my voice is a bit different from others.  Let me start by the Ministry of Public Service Labour and Social Welfare. The Government is continuously providing food and nobody starved in this El- Nino induced drought.

         I would like to say the Government wants to end hunger because it brings a lot of violence and misunderstandings. We know a lot of people who abandoned their houses because of hunger as well as other men and women even those youngsters who are now involved in prostitution. Your budget focuses on the welfare of people, you consider people to stay well in their respective houses.

         I would like to thank you on the issue of BEAM. People used to complain that funds were not being allocated straight to the Ministry of Education. I would like to say as we start the new year, funds should be transferred on time so that schools can continue working and doing all their programmes freely.  On the issue of the school feeding programme financial assistance, yes we know we have challenges to do with the funds but you have tried a lot.  You showed that you are targeting the 2030 vision.  We might have limited resources but it shows that in 2030 with our ZIG here present that is what we are there for.  I would like to speak on the issue to do with pensions in Public Service. A lot of people who have been working in ZISCO STEEL who were retrenched in 2016 have not received their pension. The pension is so limited. I remember hearing from the Chief Whip saying a lot of pension funds were directed to build various houses. We kindly ask them to adjust the amount which is being allocated to those people who were retrenched and to believe that when they get home they need to stay well. 

         Let me focus on people with disabilities.  I am one of those people who have disabilities.  It is a very big challenge if you do not have access to assistive devices.  We need to adjust the funds so that people will get some assistive devices like wheelchairs even those with albinism to have their sunscreen lotion as you tried on the amount of funds allocated. If we look into those people with disabilities, we find that they were allocated 265 million ZIG for the 2025 budget targeting 1.5 million people with disabilities or more than that. If we look at it, it is an average of 185 ZIG for an individual with a disability but we know that in our budget we said we want to do domestic resource funding or to fundraise funds as a nation for us to have our resources. I think the Minister will adjust and it will also help to assist people with disability further that they can have a good living.

Let me focus on agriculture and food security, I would like to thank you so much as we speak we are also farmers and others who are here present and others from outside. Those who had an opportunity to farm wheat and managed to harvest are now buying fertilizer and maize seeds because they managed to pay the farmers on time. I would like to thank you for that.

         Let me now proceed by saying this previous year we had a challenge of drought and what I am simply saying is we need to have more irrigation from village level to A1 level to A2. We would like to thank the borehole drilling system because we have a lot of people who are already working there, and we want those in A1 to be assisted. We need to have a clear programme set out whereby people will be allocated loans for farming and will not focus on the rains. Just with the heat of these late rains, people were advised before that we were expecting average rainfall.

         We do not want people to just rely on rainfall only. If they have rainfall they will not have such challenges. We also have old women with disabilities, on maternity, all those ladies are the ones who work in those farms. We have Pfumvudza, where a lot of livestock died resulting in farmers failing to do their farming. If you try to use your hands and hoes to dig it will be difficult. When we get those funds they can buy those augers.  I am kindly asking the Minister so that augers can be used by old people and pregnant women to dig holes for all those people to plant their plants.

         I would like to thank the Minister, people received their inputs for Pfumvudza. As we proceed, we would like to ensure that all the women get access to those loans.   Forgive me, I might repeat and sometimes I might be putting my own words.

As women, we have the Women’s Microfinance Bank.  That bank at most, is a bank which plans to give low income earners who are vulnerable, especially focussing on women and also other people who are in poverty.  As they receive those funds, it is not a large amount.  That is why it is called micro.  So they do not actually do much in expansion or adjustment of their lifestyle.  

I am thankful that amount is there in our banks but that bank charges high interest.  In comparison with the bank which we saw in Kenya, they actually charge an interest of 8% per annum.  Our microfinance bank charges interest on a monthly basis, so I would like to kindly ask those people to adjust and ensure they have a good programme awaiting all those people. 

Then we have another programme which is there in Women Affairs, that of tractors.  We would like to thank those people and we expect them to increase the amount which is being offered for people to work.  I would like to also talk about women and paid care work.  Ministries should carry out what is called gender responsive budgeting so that those women who are usually at home, those who are full time housewives, those who do the unpaid care work are also included.  I am kindly asking for those people to have the infrastructure which will assist them in their work.

I would like to thank the Minister for reducing VAT on LP Gas.  After reducing that VAT, it is a bit easier for those women who do domestic care work.  They are now using something which is called smart energy which does not affect our own environment and this is applauded as a nation.

Then I go on to tourism.  Tourism is a new Ministry which was separated from environment.  It had requested for quite a reasonable amount and they got 0.09% yet tourism is an arm which brings a lot of funds into this country.  I think it is third compared to mining and agriculture.  They got limited funds.  They would like to do marketing, buy the tools of trade and buy vehicles for their easy mobility.  Such things will give them challenges and will hinder their operations.  Some of the things that they do such as inspection, they have to go around inspecting their hotels to see if they are good or accessible to people with disabilities.

Let me speak on something else.  For us to ask as to where we get more funds, you know we have elephant tusks.  I am kindly asking for universities and polytechnics, they have to do something so that we can have domestic financing.  I would also like to talk on the issue to do with fast foods.  I would like to applaud you for that.  It says a lot of people who have been buying those fast foods should buy something healthier. 

I am kindly asking all ministries that the amounts of money given to them, they have to do gender responsive budgeting so that women can be recognised.  I thank you for the good budget presented.

HON. S. NGWENYA:  Thank you Madam Speaker.  I think most of the issues have been covered, however, I would like to thank the Hon. Minister of Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion for such a good budget allocation to the respective ministries.  It seems this budget really is people-centred or poor people-centred.  We are actually proud of it.

Madam Speaker, I rise to address the allocation of ZiG 10.7 billion to the Ministry of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare in the 2025 National Budget.  This allocation aims at addressing the pressing issue of poverty.  It demonstrates the Government’s acknowledgment of the challenges faced by the vulnerable households.  It goes without saying that social protection programmes funded through an allocation such as cash transfers and food assistance are critical to cushioning the most disadvantaged members of our society.

However, Madam Speaker, while this allocation is a step in the right direction, it remains inadequate given the extent of poverty in the country. The social economic pressures exacerbated by the El Nino induced drought have deepened vulnerabilities in many households especially in rural areas like in our area of Gokwe, with special reference to Gokwe-Gumunyu.  This makes it imperative for social protection programmes to expand their reach and effectiveness. 

A particular concern is also towards the Basic Education in Assistance Module (BEAM).  I am repeating this as this is actually very important especially in our rural areas.  We consider most of our families to be vulnerable.  This programme has been a lifeline for many children from poor families, enabling them to access education.

THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER:  Hon. Ngwenya, please avoid repeating what has already been said.

HON. NGWENYA:  I will try to rush through.  Thank you Madam Speaker.  I will leave the issues of BEAM and others and rush to the issue of allocation towards public service wages. I rose to comment the Government and the Minister for its efforts in addressing the remuneration of civil servants in the 2025 National Budget. The allocation of ZiG152.6 billion which constitutes 56.4% of the revenue reflects a significant commitment to supporting our Public Service worker.

         The recent adjustments to the remuneration framework to include a self-adjusting mechanism pegged to the USD exchange rate is a positive step in cushioning civil servants from exchange rate fluctuations. The Government’s decision to award a USD40 increase in the civil servants payable in the local currency at the prevailing exchange rate effective from 1 September, 2024 is also commendable. This increase demonstrates the Government’s recognition of the importance of improving the livelihood of our civil servants.

         However, despite these efforts, the welfare of our civil servants remains a pressing concern. The majority of our civil servants earn an average of USD300 plus an average of ZiG equivalent to around USD150. This total remuneration is insufficient to meet the rising cost of living which continues to strain the welfare of our public service workers.

         We acknowledge at the current allocation of employment cost. That employment cost exceeds the fiscal rule threshold of continuing employment costs at a maximum remuneration for civil servants which cannot be overstated. Adequate compensation is crucial not only for the wellbeing of our civil servants, but also for maintaining the efficiency and effectiveness of our public service.

         I conclusion, I urge the Finance Minister to consider further adjustments to the remuneration framework to ensure that civil servants receive a living wage that effects the current economic realities. While we appreciate the progress made, let us not lose site of the need to enhance the welfare of our Public Service workers who are the backbone of our nation.

         I will not dwell much since I have done justice to the Public Service issues which I feel should be addressed. I will not dwell much on tourism and agriculture as they all need additional financing for them to thrive as tourism is the cash cow of the country and agriculture is the mainstay of the country. I thank you.

HON. MUROMBEDZI:  Thank you Madam Speaker Ma’am. I rise with a firm sense of responsibility to critically add my voice to the 2025 National Budget Statement presented under the theme, “Building Resilience for Sustained Economic Transformation.” While the vision of resilience and transformation is ambitious, the reality reflected in this budget raises concern about its ability to address critical challenges like health, energy poverty, climate change, infrastructure, and equitable growth. The 6% growth projection in the 2025 budget is dangerously reliant on the La Niña phenomenon and its promise of above-normal rainfall. Basing our economic outlook on unpredictable weather is not resilience but it is recklessness.”

Agriculture – Vulnerable to Weather Risks

Rain-fed agriculture remains Zimbabwe’s Achilles’ heel. With minimal investment in irrigation and climate-smart practices, even a slight deviation in rainfall could devastate food production. The ZWG 22.9 billion allocated to agriculture lacks the focus needed for resilience.”

Energy – A Fragile Sector

The energy sector depends heavily on hydropower, yet it receives only ZWG 259.8 million. Without diversification into solar and wind, energy shortages will persist, crippling industries and households when rainfall fails.”

Lessons from the Past

Droughts in 2015/16 and 2018/19 left millions food-insecure and caused energy collapses. Have we learned nothing from these crises? Relying on La Niña for growth invites a repeat of these failures. To ensure sustainable growth in this country, we must rely on sustainable solutions

Madam Speaker Ma’am, I want to motivate my debate as a compelling case for increased funding for the Ministry of Tourism and Hospitality Industry, as outlined in the Portfolio Committee's 2025 Post-Budget Report. While the national budget has recognised tourism as one of the key pillars of our economy alongside mining and agriculture, the current allocation of ZiG 294.6 million, representing only 0.09% of the national budget is grossly inadequate to meet the sector's potential and needs.

Tourism's Role in Economic Transformation

The Ministry has projected $1.34 billion in tourism receipts from 1.9 million tourist arrivals. This is crucial for Zimbabwe's economic transformation. However, achieving this target requires robust funding, particularly for programmes like tourism promotion, infrastructure development and digital marketing.

Severe Budget Shortfall

The Ministry's ideal budget of ZiG1.1 billion is underfunded by 73%. Critical areas such as tourism promotion (allocated 9% of the ideal budget) and development (12%) are severely constrained, undermining the sector's ability to function optimally.

Domestic and International Promotion

With limited funds, programmes like ZIMBHO campaigns, cultural festivals, and international roadshows are at risk. Additional funding is essential to enhance domestic tourism uptake and strengthen Zimbabwe's visibility in international markets, including the participation in Osaka and appointing tourism attaches in emerging markets like Brazil, Russia and Turkey.

Infrastructure and Modernisation

Projects such as the Tourism Academy in Victoria Falls and the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority (ZTA) office in Beitbridge are underfunded. These are not just infrastructure investments but also revenue-generating assets that would elevate Zimbabwe's status as a top destination.

Digital Transformation and Revenue Accountability

Investment in digital marketing and the automation of the Tourism Fund is vital to align Zimbabwe with global trends and plug revenue leakages. The Ministry requires an additional USD 494,000 to operationalise these initiatives, which are key to sustaining long-term growth.

MICE Tourism Potential

Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions (MICE) Tourism has immense potential to generate revenue and increase tourist arrivals. However, the current allocation of ZiG 5.7 million is insufficient to develop modern infrastructure and attract large-scale events.

Impact of Budget Cuts

Inadequate funding has led to reduced marketing, compliance enforcement, and limited support for domestic tourism initiatives. These factors not only decrease Zimbabwe's competitiveness but also threaten the quality and standards of tourism services.

Recommendation:

         Tax and Fee Adjustments

Review and reduce the taxes and fees passed on to consumers, which make Zimbabwe’s destinations uncompetitive compared to regional counterparts.

Madam Speaker Ma’am, tourism is more than an economic pillar. It is a gateway to showcasing Zimbabwe's rich cultural heritage, natural beauty and hospitality. It is our duty to ensure that the Ministry of Tourism and Hospitality Industry receives adequate funding to maximize its contribution to national growth and development.

Health: A Shortfall in Commitment

The Government’s commitment to health falls far below the Abuja Declaration's target of allocating 15% of the national budget to health. This year, health receives only 11%, a glaring shortfall in a country grappling with one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the region, at 462 deaths per 100,000 live births.

Infrastructure Neglect: Clinics like Mahwau in Hurungwe North remain incomplete, forcing women and children to travel over 20 kilometers for medical care.

Staff Exodus: The lack of competitive wages continues to drive healthcare workers abroad, leaving critical gaps in service delivery.

The 2025 national budget allocation to health missed the 15% Abuja Declaration. How does Zimbabwe plan to meet growing healthcare needs? Rural clinics are lagging behind and remain underserved. This is a missed opportunity to align with global commitments.

Energy Poverty: A National Crisis

 

Madam Speaker, energy poverty continues to cripple economic growth and social well-being, with over 60% of rural households lacking access to electricity.

Load-Shedding: Businesses face up to 12 hours of daily load-shedding, stifling productivity and employment.

Renewable Energy Allocation: The allocation for renewable energy projects is insufficient to bridge the gap.

The budget should prioritise investments in solar and hydroelectric energy, particularly for rural electrification.

         Climate Change: A Crisis Ignored.

The budget's response to climate change is inadequate given Zimbabwe's vulnerability.

Drought Impact: The 2023-24 drought affected over 4 million Zimbabweans, yet funding for water harvesting infrastructure remains minimal at ZWL139 billion.

Deforestation: With over 20% of rural households reliant on firewood, deforestation is accelerating.

Roads and Infrastructure: The Backbone of Development.

Infrastructure development is the cornerstone of economic transformation, yet this budget does little to address glaring deficiencies.

Chirundu-Beitbridge Road: A critical trade route remains incomplete, costing Zimbabwe billions in lost revenue.

Rural Roads: Many rural areas, including Mashonaland West, remain inaccessible during the rainy season due to poor road conditions.

Example: Efficient road networks in Botswana have facilitated seamless trade and tourism, contributing to their sustained growth. Zimbabwe must accelerate its infrastructure projects.

Taxation: Unjust burdens on the Poor

Madam Speaker, the budget's taxation measures disproportionately burden the poor.

Withholding Tax: Small-scale traders in rural areas who constitute the backbone of the informal economy will bear the brunt of these regressive measures.

Meanwhile, large corporations in mining and manufacturing enjoy tax holidays and incentives. Why not redistribute this burden more equitably?

The 2025 National Budget introduced a tax on plastic bags. This could reduce environmental pollution, but where is the clarity on how revenues will fund sustainability projects?

Debt and Corruption: The Elephant in the Room.

Zimbabwe’s public debt now stands at ZWL 13.4 trillion, crowding out essential spending on social services and infrastructure.

Corruption: Billions are lost annually through procurement fraud and unaccounted funds, as highlighted by the Auditor-General’s reports.

Dependence on Donors: Development partners fund critical sectors, a dependency that undermines national sovereignty. Without addressing corruption, all plans for debt resolution will remain futile.

Devolution: Rhetoric without resources.

Devolution is meaningless without adequate funding. The ZiG 154 billion allocated for intergovernmental fiscal transfers is insufficient to empower provinces to address their unique challenges. For example, in Mashonaland West, inadequate funding means continued water shortages, crumbling schools and health facilities that are unable to meet demand.

Recommendations for a Better Budget

Madam Speaker, Zimbabwe deserves better. I propose the following:

1. Health: Meet the Abuja Declaration by allocating 15% of the budget to health and prioritising rural clinics and staff retention.
2. Energy: Double investments in renewable energy projects, focusing on solar for rural electrification.
3. Climate Resilience: Increase funding for water harvesting, irrigation and reforestation projects to mitigate droughts.
4. Infrastructure: Accelerate the completion of key projects like the Chirundu-Beitbridge Road and improve rural accessibility.
5. Tax Reforms: Implement progressive taxation to ensure large corporations contribute their fair share.
6. Corruption: Establish an independent anti-corruption task force to recover stolen funds and ensure transparency.
7. Devolution: Increase fiscal transfers to provinces and empower local authorities with decision-making powers.

Conclusion: This budget is a missed opportunity to address the urgent needs of Zimbabweans. It speaks of resilience but fails to provide the tools for ordinary citizens to thrive.

The Government must act decisively to ensure this budget uplifts the vulnerable, builds sustainable infrastructure and fosters equitable growth. Zimbabweans are resilient, but they deserve leadership that matches their resolve. I thank you.

THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER:  Thank you Hon. Murombedzi. Hon. Members who are yet to debate, please avoid repeating what has already been said. Inasmuch as you want to appreciate and express what you have written and want to ensure you have gone through your already prepared debates, if you repeat what has already been said, I will ask you to take your seat and we will move to the next person who is on the list.

+HON. MGUNI:  Thank you Madam Speaker for affording me this opportunity. As you have already said, we should not repeat what has already been said, I will only speak on two issues. Firstly, I would like to thank the Minister of Finance on the Budget that he presented here in Parliament. I will talk about what was allocated to Foreign Affairs. We appreciate that they were given 75% although it is not enough. What I can say Madam Speaker is that if the Minister gives them the money to use, they should spend it on one particular project or they should build one house for the ambassadors, instead of building many that will not be completed. At least when we get to 2026, we would have finished maybe one house and work on the other one the following year.

There is also a pavilion that is supposed to be built because there was a show that we attended in Dubai and things did not go well. I think the country can now try and rectify where we made mistakes. Maybe the Minister can also assist those who are within the country here so that they can also contribute towards ZIMTRADE. Some of the items that they take to the shows also assist them to boost their businesses.

Madam Speaker, when we look at the broadcasting, this is an important issue that was supposed to have been completed in 2015 but it was never completed. It would be embarrassing to go as far as 2025 without having finished digitalisation. We, therefore, ask the Minister of Finance to see to it that this comes to completion.

Madam Speaker, I would also like to talk about the issue of water in Bulawayo because it a sad state. The Minister of Finance should try to allocate funds for the Gwayi-Shangani…

THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER:  Hon. Mguni, the issue that you are raising has already been raised by Hon. Moyo.

+HON. MGUNI:  That is why I said it has been said but it is important…

THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER:  Order Hon. Member. Like I indicated, if something has already been said, it has been said no matter how important you think it is. We want to save our time. Please continue with your debate but avoid repeating what has already been said.

+HON. MGUNI:  I think that is all because everything else has already been said. Thank you.

THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER:  Hon. Members, I am warning you, please do not repeat what has already been said.

*HON. MUNEMO:  Thank you Madam Speaker. Thank you for giving that advice before I start debating. I would want to start by thanking our Minister for the Budget presentation –[HON. MEMBERS:  Inaudible interjections.]–

*THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER:  Order, order. It is allowed to thank the Minister. Hon. Munemo, can you proceed.

*HON. MUNEMO:  Just like I said before, I would like to thank His Excellency for the mantra, nyika inovakwa nevene vayo. A nation is built and prayed for by its citizens. I would like to debate on two issues which were not mentioned before. The Minister has to look into the taxes which we have. Most of the kombis are now registering their vehicles in yellow plates, instead of going for red or white plates. We have many rules which motorists can hardly meet. That will see us losing a lot of revenue which should be paid to the country.

Let me move on to investors. These are our friends but they have to pay for the licences before we begin our friendships. I would also like to speak to the issue to do with drought. People in rural areas have experienced drought which is affecting the livestock and the Ministry of Agriculture should be allocated funds to safeguard the livestock. I would like to end by saying, nyika inovakwa nevene vayo. I thank you.

THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER:  Hon. Madzivanyika, may I remind you not to repeat what has already been said.

         HON. MADZIVANYIKA:  Thank you Madam Speaker Ma’am.

         THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER (HON. TSITSI ZHOU):  Hon. Madzivanyika, may I remind you not to repeat what has already been said?

         HON. MADZIVANYIKA:  I will not repeat but when I see that there is a gap, I will utilise that opportunity to close the gap.  Madam Speaker, the fundamental integrity of National Budget relies on the integrity of the statistics that are given.  Let me highlight one signal statistics of concern, the Gross Domestic Product of this country.  Why is it important Madam Speaker?  It is important because it forms the best of projections.  When talking about the budget, we are talking about projections for 2025.  We do not have the cash and expenditure now.  We project what we are going to collect.  We also project how we are going to use the money.

         So the projections on revenue collection are determined by the GDP.  Let me take your attention to paragraph 168 of this book.  You realise that there is a heading for GDP.  The real GDP for 2024 is 96.9 million ZiG.  That is so outrageous and defies of logic.  How can this country have a real GDP of 96 million ZiG?  It is not sustainable.  It cannot happen and will never happen.  This budget talks about stable inflation but on the same page, table 32 page 73, there is nominal GDP and real GDP.  The difference between nominal and real GDP is the GDP deflator.

         If I took the deflator of 2024, I will be dividing the nominal GDP d by the real GDP.  The GDP deflator is 6 700.  When I go to 2025 projection, the GDP deflator is 13 400.  It means the inflation rate will be 100% between 2024 and 2025.  So, the assumption of stable inflation goes away and there is nowhere in this world where we can say that inflation is stable at 100%.  That is not sustainable.

         Let me move on to the issue of arrears.  We are in December but we are before the end of the year.  What will happen to the outstanding arrears that we owe to other Government ministries and other contractors? Is that budgeted for in the 2025 National Budget because payment will be done next year?  They also want to talk about the issue of debt.

         THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER:  The issue of debt has already been said.

         HON. MADZIVANYIKA:  Wait Madam Speaker, I am closing a gap – [HON. MEMBERS:  Inaudible Interjections.] – What I am going to say was not said on debt.  That is what I want to say.   I want to say that we have seen consistent borrowing by the Minister locally without Parliamentary approval.  That is a serious issue for concern Madam Speaker – [HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear.] –

         To make matters worse, we are borrowing from the private sector.  We are making private placements that are likely to create high interests.  It is also likely to crowd out private investors because we will be competing for the same capital.  There is a worrying issue of the assumption of the Reserve Bank debt.  There is a statement in this book that the 2015 RBZ debt has been assumed.  There is also a statement that the 2022 RBZ debt has been assumed.  Where is Parliament along all these issues Madam Speaker?  Where did we stand as Parliament to approve the assumption of such debt?  When we ask the question under session here, the Hon. Deputy Minister say that we are still validating the RBZ debt.  All of a sudden, the debt has been resumed.  Where are we as Parliament? – [HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear.] –

         Our country is 80% dollarised.  Zimbabwe has moved to the issue of adopting IPSAS which is an International Public Sector Accounting Standards.  Section 37 of the Public Fund Management Act says that when a Government is preparing financial statements and budgets, they must adhere to the generally accepted accounting principles. Zimbabwe has adopted IPSAS. IPSAS 24 says if you are in a multicurrency system, you are going to prepare your budgets in the currency which is dominant. Under our circumstances, the dominant currency is the USD.

Secondly, it will be very easy for accountants in this world. Look at the episodes of depreciation. How are they going to monitor and evaluate performance when we are working under volatility, uncertainty, ambiguity and unpredictability? It is very important that we put our budget in United States Dollars.

         The issue of virement, as Parliament we sit here and approve a National Budget to say this Ministry can use this money. The Minister is allowed at law to use the unallocated reserve if there is a shock somewhere, if they think there is something pending and serious. They are allowed to use the unallocated reserve. Let me tell you and I want to challenge you Madam Speaker, the unallocated reserve for 2024 budget was exhausted by a single ministry which is the Ministry of Transport.

So, where did we get the money to spend to take care of expenditure in the OPC? Where did we get all the money to cover all the expenditures in the council of Chiefs? Where did we get money to cater for expenditures in the Ministry of Agriculture? It means that there was some virement from other ministries. No wonder why the Ministry of Public Works and Social Welfare only got 17% of its allocation. Whenever you virement, it must be done through Parliament’s approval.

 I will talk about education and will ignore health and self- protection. My worry on education is that I am seeing people saying that they have met the Dakar on education to say that we have surpassed 20%.  I do not believe so Madam Speaker. This is because if you go to page 80 of this National Budget, you will realise that the total Government spending is 322 billion. What does the convention say because it is the convention’s allocation that determines the denominator?

Under the circumstances, the convention says Zimbabwe or these countries have made commitment to the fact that 20% of Government’s spending must go to education regardless of whether it is statutory or not because it is an allocation. Money has been since spent so the denominator that I was supposed to use is 322 for the purpose of fulfilling the international conventions and commitments. Therefore, if you use that base, our allocation to the Ministry of Education will go below a threshold of 10%.

Madam Speaker, I have got a worrying issue of overregulation. We got a submission from CZI with the effect that at least 18% of fixed costs of company expenses goes to regulation. I mean licensing and permits for businesses to operate. To make matters worse, the guys from CZI provided information to the fact that we need 32 licenses to run a supermarket. That is worrisome and they even went on to give us the list of the permits. It was so embarrassing Madam Speaker. How do we find a situation whereby someone to run a business need 32 licenses away from taxation? If you come to taxation, how will it look like? I think it will be extremely uncertain.

         Let me go to beneficiation and value addition. I need to go to beneficiation and value addition.  We were fortunate that we toured Zimplats, I think last week.  We witnessed good work that is taking place there.  We have witnessed that they have covered; three quarters of the roadmap to value addition, which is commendable because they are now producing matt.  From concentrate to matt.  They are left with two last stages of value addition, which is the Base Metal Refinery (BMR).  Also, the last one which is the PMR.  So we have seen considerable progress but we have got this situation that we have in our law, to the effect that if you want to export unbeneficiated chrome, you pay 2% tax. 

So we are imploring the Minister that he actually puts a ban in this Finance Bill, to put a ban on the exportation of raw chrome or platinum to ensure that the process of value addition – if you look at the Zimplats situation, they have a bigger plant, which can accommodate inputs from all other producers of platinum.  By January, 2025, I suggest to the Minister that can we have a situation whereby all other platinum producers, like Mimosa, Bravura, Caro and other producers put their raw materials to Zimplats so that we do not lose out as a country by exporting unbeneficiated minerals.

Let me go to the revenue measures.  I am talking about Pay As You Earn (PAYE).  I have seen that the Minister said it is a tax relief to our workers but I do not think so.  I do not see it as a tax relief, why, under normal circumstances, we should not tax anyone who is earning below the poverty datum line.  Actually, what it means is we are perpetuating poverty.  Under the current circumstances, the poverty datum line stands at USD500.00.  Even the minimum wage, stands at USD150.00.  So, why do we tax a meagre USD100.00, which is even insufficient to pay rent and water bills?  I think it is unfair.  We should love our people.  We should love our citizens.  We should demonstrate that. Love is not a saying that I love my country, you must demonstrate love.  One such way is to protect the poor.  We do not have to tax them to debt.

On the same note, we have got tax bracket of ZiG, the minimum is ZiG2 800, what it therefore means is that in the next three months, assuming that there is depreciation of the currency, even by 10 or 5%, it means the low income earners are going to be put into a tax bracket.  What I want to implore the Hon. Minister is can we have a situation where we index the ZiG tax bracket to the USD.  Let us tie them there, so that as the ZiG tax moves, the bracket also moves, so that no one is prejudiced in the process.  Getting tax on panders, I am not impressed with this tax.  Let me tell you why.  Under the current tax regime, the bookmark, who is the betting company gets taxed 3% of both earnings, plus 15% VAT.  The question is who is paying for that 3%?  Who is paying for the VAT.?  It is the punter, the one who bets because the VAT for these companies – the company is just an agent.  He takes VAT on behalf of Government.  In other words, that company does not pay VAT but it just takes VAT from customers and pay to Treasury because they claim it back…

THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER (HON. TSITSI ZHOU): Hon. Madzivanyika, order, do you have recommendations?

HON. MADZIVANYIKA: No, I am debating Madam Speaker.  Allow me to debate…

THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: I appreciate that but I would like to believe on each point, you do have recommendations.

HON. MADZIVANYIKA: I have them at the end of my presentation.

THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: If you can wrap up and quickly get to your recommendations. Please proceed.

HON. MADZIVANYIKA: What I was saying is, it is the punter, which pays the 15% VAT.  It is the punter, which contributes 15% of the gross earnings and the pander, now we are saying if you win, we want 10% withholding tax.  Let me say this, according to Section 8 of the Income Tax Act, income received from debts is regarded as items of capital nature and is excluded as part of gross income.  My issue is, why do we want to take a win for what is coming, yet without looking at how much this person has suffered to get that win for.  I would like to think that in a single month, if I make my bet, probably I make 10 bets losing and then I made one bet on the 29^th of the month and win.  Why can you not just deduct all my expenses so that I am charged the withholding tax on profit than to charge me on the total amount?  Number one, who goes to betting? You will realise that 75% of people who bet are the poor.  So we…

THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: That has already been covered.  Please avoid repeating what has already been said.

HON. MADZIVANYIKA: I thought I put a new dimension of 3% gross earnings, which was not said by anyone.  I thought I was just closing the gap. 

THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: Continue with your debate.

HON. MADZIVANYIKA: Madam Speaker, I am so worried about the provision that ZIMRA is now empowered to seize trading stock of business people who did not pay tax for more than six months.  I think it is outrageous.  Zimbabwe as a country is in debt but we have not seen the Paris Club coming to take down our neck.  We have not lost a single asset from Zimbabwe from our international creditors.  We have not lost a single asset from Zimbabwe, from our domestic creditors…

THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: Hon. Madzivanyika, you are left with five minutes.

HON. MADZIVANYIKA: It is fine Madam Speaker.  So, my worry is if we give those powers to ZIMRA, what we are actually doing is we are fattening other people’s pockets, as simple as that because this measure actually will worsen the current situation.  This is the cow that gives us milk.  Let us arrange for payment plans.  Let us arrange for other means of payment.  Let us assess if whether this business is distressed or not.  It is normal to get distressed as a business.  Such is the cycle of life, even a country goes through episodes of booms and slags, it is normal. 

I am concerned about the deeming of smuggled goods and I do not know how this would be applied.  There is a provision that Government is going to deem alcoholic beverages and other goods, to say if you are found with them, they are deemed to be smuggled unless you provide a receipt for customs duty.  Assume that a big company which is a wholesaler, buys from South Africa, using lorries and huge trucks, they pay for their goods and get receipts.  Here is just a small business that   buys from there, when I am meeting ZIMRA officials with those goods, then I am arrested but there is no way that wholesaler would give all the receipts because it would not be commensurate with what I will be having.  So, the applicability of this measure, I think it is difficult.  What is important is, this is a symptom of a problem.  What is the problem here?   It is smuggling.  Why do people smuggle?  The rates of duty are too high. Let us rationalise and get something than to lose out completely [AN HON. MEMBER: Zvataurwa izvo.]-  Let me move on to the issue of late submission of…

THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER:  Order Honourable, the Hon. Member on my right, who said zvataurwa izvo, if you repeat that I will ask you to come and sit in front.

HON. MADZIVANYIKA: There is a proposal to have a USD30.00 return on late submission of returns.  This has been applied before and it has got dangerous consequences.  Let me put things into perspective, if one taxpayer fails to submit returns for one month, they are entitled to pay USD5 430 and if it happens for five months, people will just sit and say I am tired of ZIMRA.  Besides, all the USD5 430, there will be accumulation of interest, so at the end of the day, all these taxpayers will be laden with debt, which they cannot pay.  That is why you see that at some point ZIMRA, two times, in the 21^st Century, has introduced two tax amnesty to clear and write off these penalties.  I do not think it is a sustainable measure of promoting compliance.

There is this important issue the repeal of Statutory Instrument 38, that is the importation of public buses.  I have noted that the Hon. Minister said that we wanted to have 500 buses but then 800 and something have been imported, so they achieved what they wanted to achieve.  I would like to encourage the Minister not to remove this provision.  Look at the state of our public bus system in urban areas, they are deplorable, the old AVMs.  Can the Minister at least allow this policy to move on for another year so that we try to improve the public transport system in our country?

         VAT deferment on the energy sector, I am so impressed.  What is good is good, this is a beautiful tax proposal because it allows the IPPs to import goods whilst deferring VAT so that they can try to assist our dire energy situation.  However, I would like to propose that we have a complete exemption of VAT so that we have more takers and that will assist in arresting the dilapidated energy system in this country...

         HON. MUSHORIWA: I move that Hon. Madzivanyika’s time be extended. –[AN HON. MEMBER: Objected.]-

         HON. DR. MAKWIRANZOU: First of all, I want to thank the Minister of Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion for presenting a well-researched budget. However, we are requesting the Hon. Minister to be more robust on value addition so that we are not exporting ores because we will never know what is in those ores. The case of PGM Minerals is a case in point.

         Madam Speaker Ma’am, I want to contribute to Vote 12, which is the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Trade.  This Ministry is allocated an equivalent of USD150 million.  Most of the expenditure, actually 80% of the expenditure is in USD.  I am recommending that we ring-fence this USD figure. In other words, we could say at this time, at this current exchange rate, it is so many US dollars because we have to budget in ZiG.  Then when they draw their money, they should be allowed to draw in US dollars.  Further, they need it because the chancery is that they want to refurbish in Abuja, London and Berlin will be refurbished only in foreign currency drawings. 

         Salaries for Ministry staff who are located outside the country will also be in forex, hence I suggest that it is important that this US dollar figure be ring-fenced and be kept as a US dollar figure.

         Madam Speaker, Zimbabwe is not in good standing in regional bodies like COMESA, it owes USD 712.  I humbly request that the Minister pays this as soon as possible.

         Madam Speaker, the Government works on a joint 50/50 venture with ZIMTRADE.  There is the Osaka Exhibition and there is a shortfall of 1.08 million dollars.  I am recommending that the Minister goes out to the private sector to try and get this shortfall of 1.08 million dollars because we cannot afford to have a poor exhibition in Osaka.  We need a very good exhibition so that we encourage importers of our products.

         Madam Speaker, I appreciate that we have a 75% allocation but there are hidden expenses, for example the first Nordic Africa Summit is going to be held right here in Zimbabwe in June yet this is not on the budget,  we need to be aware of that.

         Secondly, there are certain expenses that will come because of our SADC Chairmanship.  Once again, the Minister should take care of that.

         Madam Speaker, the Minister of Transport was given a good allocation last year, regrettably they have had nothing.  However, I would recommend that the Minister takes a very strong interest in the Commissions that are going to come.  There are Commissions for PPPs that are going to come and hopefully, we would like to see PPPs being done for Harare-Nyamapanda Road, Beitbridge-Victoria Falls, Harare-Chirundu Road, and even secondary roads linking our growth points such as Chinhoyi, Marondera, Lupane, Gwanda, Gweru, Mutare, Bindura and so forth.  The Ministry should be one of the major negotiators of the PPP contracts because of the conditions of precedence conditions which in most cases stop contracts from being signed.

         Finally, Madam Speaker Ma’am, I would like to appeal to the Minister to increase the allocation for National Railways of Zimbabwe so that we reduce vehicle loading on the roads and all our cargo goes on the railway line.  In addition, I would like to appeal for an increase in the allocation of the inland water infrastructure.  I am talking about our big dams like Lake Kariba and Tugwi-Mukosi.  This will enable these inland waters to licence people properly.  I thank you.

         HON.  MUSHORIWA:  Hon. Speaker, Ma'am, the drafters of our Zimbabwean Constitution spent quite a long time in making sure that Chapter 17 of the Constitution is dedicated to the public finance management.  Madam Speaker, when you read the Constitution from Section 298, you realise the importance of this process. It is not a process of just ticking the boxes, but a process Madam Speaker, that is supposed to direct the financial phase of this country.

Madam Speaker, I want to start my debate and I am glad the Hon. Minister is taking notes, because this is an issue that we have raised in the past and the Hon. Minister continues not to treat this Constitution with the respect that it deserves, nor respecting us Parliament who are the owners of the purse.

Hon. Speaker, the Hon. Minister is aware that in the year 2015, Government overspent by USD25 million outside the mandate of Parliament.  He is further aware that in 2016, Government overspent USD1.5 billion outside the mandate of this Parliament. He is also further aware that in 2017, Government overspent USD4.5 billion outside the mandate of this Parliament. In 2018, Madam Speaker, this Government overspent by USD3.5 billion.  What has happened, Madam Speaker?  The Hon. Minister brought a Condonation Bill before this august House. We told the Hon. Minister that the figure that he had brought before the august House, of close to USD10 billion had not been audited by the Auditor General.

Madam Speaker, we have actually now spent almost more than three to four years.  The Minister of Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion has failed to make sure that all those figures are actually certified by the Auditor General. But as if that was not enough Madam Speaker, the Hon. Minister is aware that in 2019, the Government again overspent by 100 million, more than Z$100 million. Then in 2020, the Government again overspent by USD6.78 billion and all this was outside Parliament.

Right now, when we discuss this budget of 2025, we are actually coming from a position where we do not know the current position in terms of the over expenditure or under expenditure of Government. I want to put to you Madam Speaker, that for the years 2021; 2022; and 2023, right now we have got a problem.  If you read the Auditor-General’s report Madam Speaker, there is a strategy that the Government has allowed and the Minister of Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion has seen it and allowed it to go by.

More than a quarter of Government ministries are not submitting their financial accounts timeously to the Auditor-General. The net effect Madam Speaker is that because the financial statements of some ministries are not coming to the Auditor-General, what we then do have is that we have got a gap.  We will not know the out turn of the Government budget, which has been certified by an independent, a board, which is the Auditor-General.  I can put it to you Hon. Speaker and the Hon. Minister is here.  

I will challenge the Hon. Minister that in spite of all the outstanding Condonation Bills that are supposed to come into this august House, 2022 and 2023, the years that the Hon. Minister was saying that we had a surplus.  In fact, I want to challenge the Hon. Minister to place before this august House a statement that justifies that, because I believe we do not have that.  Tied to that Madam Speaker, I just want to raise something which is fundamental.

In his maiden budget, the Hon. Minister spoke highly about the need for this country to move towards the International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS) and I say this Madam Speaker, to simply say that when you look into the implementation matrix, the Hon. Minister did not, because we are supposed by 2025, which is the year of this budget, did not make an effort.   

One, to update this august House in terms of the work that they have done. Secondly Madam Speaker, we are aware Madam Speaker, that if we continue in the trajectory that we are going, we are actually going into huge challenges.  I am aware that the debate on the debt has been explained, but I just want to add another angle to this debt issue. Madam Speaker and Hon. Members here, you need to be aware  of this.

According to the Budget Statement by the Hon. Minister, our interest payment, we are likely to be paying around ZiG40 billion, to put it into the proper context, the Parliament budget is ZiG40 billion.  Our obligation will be more than several ministries. You can put your Ministry of Industry and Commerce, you can put all other ministries, four to five ministries, they will be dwarfed by our commitment towards debt repayment.  I can tell you Madam Speaker, the Hon. Minister is aware that according to the Public Debt Act, he is supposed to come before this House within seven days of Parliament sitting once, he has put and given a guarantee but the Hon. Minister has not been doing that to this august House.

We are aware, Madam Speaker, that when you look at the Public Debt Report that the Hon. Minister submitted to this august House, you will note Madam Speaker, that there are certain debts that we know out there.  Look at the Agro debt at CBZ. Look at the number of people, the percentage that has actually paid for a debt which has been guaranteed by the Government. But not only that Madam Speaker, I understand the Hon. Minister's challenge.  Right now Hon. Members, you need to be aware that according to this budget, the Hon. Minister if we approve it, has to borrow at a minimum USD200 million to support this budget.

The net effect Madam Speaker, is that if we do not deal with two issues, then we are done as a country. If we do not deal with our capacity to raise revenue and our capacity to constrain our expenditure, then we have a problem.  I want to say this Madam Speaker, right now where we are as a country, we are at a very dangerous position.  I say this because around 65% of Zimbabweans, of our people that we represent in our various constituencies, do not care what we do as Government. They do not care even about the budget.

Primarily because the informal market, the informal system out there is actually growing bigger.  When it grows bigger, it becomes a danger and this is the reason why it has been regarded that the current state which we have, the CZI Madam Speaker, was telling us under the Budget Committee that if you go to Manicaland, for instance, 40% percent of the goods that are there are actually smuggled.  Madam Speaker, you may also be aware that when your Committee of Industry and Commerce went on border visits, one Hon. Member in this august House told people the truth that is happening, that there was another border, beyond the Forbes Border Post, an organised system of smuggling goods into Zimbabwe and the Hon. Member was beaten.  People were saying that this has become a security threat.

What I do not understand from the Hon. Minister's budget is, I am not getting the urgency from the Government in terms of making sure that we clobber and close all these things that are happening. When you go to Zambia, we went there Madam Speaker, because the

rains have not been raining. People were actually crossing the mighty Zimbabwe River on foot and smuggling.  Go to Mozambique, go to Beitbridge everywhere.  Why are we allowing that thing to happen? Who are the people who are benefiting? In order for that to continue happening, it means that there are certain people that are continuing to benefit at the expense of the generality of our people. – [HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear.] –

Madam Speaker, the credibility of the budget has been spoken about and I am not going to talk about that.  What I need the Hon. Minister to do is to consider the quest of making sure that our domestic resource mobilisation does not hurt the poor at the expense of the rich. Madam Speaker, you are aware that last year when we were dealing with the 2024 budget, we clapped hands for the Hon. Minister when he introduced the wealth tax.  You will be shocked that today in December 2024, Government has not taken a single dollar on the wealth tax.  How is it possible that after passing a Finance Bill and we thought we were moving in a progressive manner, we are failing.  Currently, the Hon. Minister is proposing to tax those using residential properties as businesses but what the Hon. Minister might have forgotten or not aware of, is that every property that is turned into business, the first thing that local authorities do is to change the charging system pertaining to that property so that the people will pay more rates.  I want to suggest to the Hon. Minister that if we want to collect as much money as possible, we need to streamline Government operations together with the local authorities.  You need a win-win system with local authorities.  We have noted and we know that most businesses in Zimbabwe,whether it is in Harare or Bulawayo, pay rates to the local authority but those businesses pay nothing to the fiscus because when the fiscus comes down on these people they want to charge huge amounts of money.  These people will then go underground but if you were to collect small amounts of US$5 or US$10 from 20,000 people, we end up making more money than trying to get US$20 000 from an individual.  It will not work. 

   I want to conclude by looking at one aspect which I think is critical in my view.  I am not so sure how we are going to do this.  The Budget and Finance Committee Chairperson gave the report on the Budget Committee pertaining to the good work at ZimPlats in terms of the beneficiation.  I, however, believe that we do have other minerals that we are not taxing sufficiently.  When we consider the Finance Bill, we need to ask if the people mining gold are contributing sufficient tax.  Are people that are taking down Boterekwa and destroying Makaha contributing sufficient resources to the fiscus?  If we do not do that then we have a problem.  We have the capacity to do that and I want to urge the Minister to be robust and courageous to confront whoever owns those gold mines that are making money.  They have to pay tax.  When we do that, we will be in a position to serve the poor.  My plea to the Hon. Minister is to look in terms of broadening the tax measures which affect the bigger corporate entities.  Also tied to that, one of the major challenges that we are facing with our communities is that they do not appear to be benefitting from the resources that are within their area.  The late former President of this country, R.G Mugabe, may his our rest in peace, ushered in community ownership.  The Minister will recall that in his maiden budget and the Finance Bill, he tinkered in terms of making sure the empowerment aspect is taken on board.  Members have talked about the need to ring-fence but I think this budget can only make sense when the people feel that they are part and parcel of the process.  When people in a particular area know that government understands them and they are going to benefit, they will do several things.  When it comes to wildlife, they will protect and even fight against poachers or those people that might be causing other problems within the environment.  So, I hope the Hon. Minister will do all the things that are necessary.  I understand and feel pity for him when it comes to him trying to manage in terms of the demands that are there.  But it is better for us to curtail expenditure so that we do not continue to create a burden on the future generation.  I thank you.

   *HON. SAMAMBWA:  Thank you Madam Speaker, I believe most of the issues have been dealt with, so I will just zero in on two issues which pertain to the Ministries of Mines and Agriculture.  I observed that with the allocation to the Ministry of Mines by the Minister of Finance, we will only be in a position to know the quantity of the minerals and the value of the minerals that we have for exploration because an amount to drill only five holes has been allocated and this is very insufficient.  Then pertaining to the Ministry of Agriculture, we are grateful for the money you are paying and have allocated.  Cotton should be paid in time so that farmers will not be disheartened.

   Let me also touch on Parliament.  There is nothing as important as to see that a worker is still awake at this hour but they have nothing to take home.  The amount of 1.9 billion that was allocated to Parliament should be relooked at by the Minister, bearing in mind that most of the time we spend nights here with the workers.  They start in the morning till we break and we would be grateful if the Budget would be increased for Parliament.  Members of Parliament’ welfare should also be looked into; may you please revisit this?  We are now being seen as beggars in the communal lands because we go there without any money.

         On education, there should be an increase in that Budget.  Specifically looking at the issue of teachers – they are getting money from parents.  It appears as if the parents are now the paymasters.  The allocation for teachers should be increased to help us, especially this time of the year when the majority of the schools have been destroyed by the winds.  The local councils no longer have money – increase the Budget so that things work well.  A lot has been said and I will not labour to repeat.  Thank you so much Hon. Speaker. 

Hon. Members having grumbled, wanting to debate.

         THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER (HON. TSITSI ZHOU): I have been furnished with a list by the Chief Whips and the last person to debate was Hon. A. Gumbo.  If you want to debate, please approach - [HON. TOBAIWA: Inaudible interjections.] – order Hon. Tobaiwa! Approach the Chief Whip and you will be given the opportunity to debate.

*HON. CHARI:  Good morning Madam Speaker.  I would like to thank you Madam Speaker for giving me the opportunity to add my voice on the Budget debate.  May the Budget for women be increased because the Gender-Based Violence that occurs is caused by lack of sufficient funding.  We have problems with our bus stop centres.  They need food when they are looking after the expecting mother, hence the need for adequate funding.  Medication should always be available.  Our lawyers should be adequately funded so that they can handle and represent cases well. 

*HON GAVA: I am grateful to the Minister for the funds that he has allocated to the Ministry of Women Affairs.  We ask you to give us additional funds for this Ministry to enable women …

*HON. TSVANGIRAI:  On a point of order….

*THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: Hon. Tsvangirai, take your seat – [*HON. TSVANGIRAI:  Zvataurwa!] – Take your seat Hon. Tsvangirai.

*HON. GAVA:  Thank you for protecting me Hon. Speaker from the attack from Members on the left.  The Women’s Bank should be given more money.  Once that is done, employment is created by women.  On the health system, mostly in the communal lands where we come from, we need to have referral hospitals in districts.  These hospitals should be equipped with machines that detect cancer. 

HON. MUTSEYAMI:  On a point of order……

THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER:  I am still talking.  Hon. Kanupula is the last person to speak.

*HON. KANUPULA:  Thank you Madam Speaker,

*HON. MAKUMIRE:  On a point of order, - [HON. MEMBERS: Inaudible interjections.] –

THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER:  Hon. Tobaiwa and Hon. Hlatywayo, if you want to debate, please do so.

HON. MAKUMIRE: On a point of order…..

*THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER:  Hon. Mutseyami and Hon. Makumire, I ask that you sit down – [AN HON. MEMBER: Nhaiwe Ropa, gara pasi ropa.] -  – [AN HON. MEMBER: On a point of order.] -  Order, order.  If I say order and you are standing, you must sit down.  Sit down Hon. Mutseyami.  Why do you belittle me to that extent? Why do you belittle me to that extent?  

HON. G. K. HLATYWAYO:  On a point of order Madam Speaker.  This House is made up of two sides, we do not debate just on one side.  We have people that are ready to debate here……

THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: Order, Hon. Hlatywayo!   I have indicated that - [HON. MEMBERS: Inaudible interjections.] – Order Hon. Mhangwa I have furnished with a list.  You have Chief Whips on both sides.  Please approach your Chief Whip if you want to debate.  We do not hinder anyone from debating in this House – [AN HON. MEMBER:  We are not on the list.] – Order, order, order!  Approach your Chief Whip and you will be given the opportunity to debate - [HON. MEMBERS: Inaudible interjections.] – We can only work with a system that was put in place by Parliament.  You need to approach your Chief Whip if you want to participate in this House.

HON. MUTSEYAMI:  Point of order Madam Speaker - [HON. MEMBERS: Inaudible interjections.] –

THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER:  I will give you the opportunity, please take your seats.  I have taken note of all of you.

         ^*HON MUTSEYAMI: Madam Speaker we understand what you have said. This august House has opposition and the ruling party. You said you received a list of names and they have all debated. As you can see …

THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: Ok I have heard you.

HON. CHIGUMBU: Thank you Madam Speaker. What I just want to say is are there Hon. Members who still want to debate from this side. We have approached our Chief Whip and the names are not coming there. Can you intervene because we want to debate, we cannot be stopped because names are not there? Allow us to debate.

^*HON. MAKUMIRE: Madam Speaker we are not only here to listen to some other people debating. We are here to air our views as well.

^*THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: Thank you so much Parliament has got its Standing Rules and Orders. Hon. Members on the right approach your Chief Whip and then you have your names written down. Hon. Members on my left you approach your Chief Whip to have your names written so that you will debate. Whether you like it or not, we only take the list from the Chief Whip. So if there is anyone who wants to debate, kindly approach your Chief Whip - [HON. MEMBERS: Inaudible interjections]-

^*THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: Order, order Hon. Makumire, Hon. Chigumbu go and see your Chief Whip. If you continue with this, I will chase you out of the House.

Hon. Chigumbu having approached the Chair.

THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: Order Hon. Chigumbu, you do not just come here. You do not do that. Approach your Chief Whip and have your names written down. We want order in this House so that we proceed with the business. It is very important, we have other people who want to debate and I have the names here. We are going to give you the opportunity to debate. Hon. Kanupula kindly proceed.

^*HON. KANUPULA: Let me start by thanking the Hon. Minister Prof M. Ncube for standing up with the 2025 National Budget. We are rallying behind you and we do support you very much. The 4.9 billion which was allocated to the Ministry of Local Government and Public Works is not enough as we are focusing on the new city which is about to be built.   Thirty percent of the budget goes to the special planning of the new city.  We are kindly asking you that the levies that they got after the sale of State land, at least 5 to 10% be given back to the Ministry since you know the importance of that Ministry –[HON. MEMBERS: Inaudible interjections.]-

THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: Order, order, you Hon. Member seated right at the back.

         ^*HON. KANUPULA: Thank you so much Madam Speaker for protecting me. I kindly ask Hon. Minister that you remove the law for then ban for vehicles older than 10 years. We have young people who have brought their vehicles to ZUPCO. We worked very well with them but those taxi operators were not given the opportunity to renew their fleet like the opportunity which you gave to those with buses. Kindly allow the importation of vehicles which are older than 10 years.

         Let us try our level best so that we bring those commuter omnibuses, people are keeping their funds in their houses. I am kindly asking for the kombi operators to be encouraged to bank their monies. On revenue collected by the Ministry of Local Government and Public Works, especially on rental collected on behalf of the Government, we are expecting 5 to 10% to be given back to them.

On the Ministry of Environment, Climate and Wildlife, Tourism is improving if you look at their services they are being supported by the Ministry of Environment, Climate and Wildlife. Kindly allocate more funds so that we continue receiving tourist in this country.

The Hon. Minister of Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion Hon. Prof. M. Ncube is being supported by this Government. If we had given this opportunity to someone else the country would have suffered. We will continue to support you Hon. Minister. Zimbabwe is relying on its local resources. Some of the people that we have here are the people who are pulling us down, so Hon. Minister, we are supporting you wherever you expect to have income continue doing that, and that will make those who are against this country and oppressing us stop. I thank you.

THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: Thank you. As I wait for the Chief Whip from the opposition to give us his list, I will give this opportunity to Hon. Tafanana Zhou.

HON. MUSHORIWA: Madam Speaker I am rising on a point of order. The point of order suspends everything by its operation.

THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: I am sure you do not want to compete with the Government Chief Whip. Please take your seat.

         HON. TOGAREPI: Madam Speaker, it is my suggestion that you consider having two Members this side and two from the other side who can debate and we adjourn.  We are all repeating but as Hon. Members want to debate, let us give them the opportunity, it is my request that you take two from this side and two from that side – [HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear.] –

         THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: Well noted Government Chief Whip.

         HON. MADZIVANYIKA: On a point of order Madam Speaker.

         THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: What is your point of order?

         HON. MADZIVANYIKA: My point of order is according to Rule No. 98 II (d), it is not allowed to use derogatory language when we speak in Parliament.  The Hon. Member who last spoke said zvimbwasungata referring to other Hon. Members.  It is derogatory and I wish that the Hon. Member withdraws that statement.  I thank you.

         *THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: Hon. Madzivanyika, you should have said this when the Hon. Member was still debating.

         HON. MADZIVANYIKA: Hon. Speaker, he said it while debating.

         THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: I am sure I was communicating with the Government Chief Whip and I would like to apologise for that.  We are going to continue and I will recognise Hon. D. Ndlovu.

         HON. MADZIVANYIKA: Hon. Speaker, I am asking for your indulgence for the Hon. Member to withdraw such a derogatory statement.  You have to make a ruling on that one.

         *THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: Hon. Kanupula, I was engaged in another conversation here, if you used such words, kindly withdraw. 

         *HON. KANUPULA: Thank you Madam Speaker, I said zvimbwasungata are found outside.  I did not say in this House, zvimbwasungata, most of them are outside.

         HON. MADZIVANYIKA: When you are in Parliament, you are now allowed to regard others as zvimbwasungata, it is clear.  The Hon. Member must just withdraw his words.

         THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: Order Hon. Madzivanyika, your point of order is overruled.

         HON. MUSHORIWA: On a point of privilege Hon. Speaker.

         THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: Hon. Mushoriwa, please can you take your seat. 

         HON. MUSHORIWA: No, it is a point of privilege Hon. Speaker.

         THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: Is it on the same issue?

         HON. MUSHORIWA: No, Hon. Speaker. In this Parliament, we have got the Hansard Department and they capture everything.  When you asked the Hon. Member to withdraw, he said that he did not say that.  I am now rising on a point of privilege…

         THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: Hon. Mushoriwa, I asked if he said it.

                 

HON. MUSHORIWA: If it appears in the Hansard that he said that then he will be in contempt of Parliament and you should actually move against him to be charged.

         THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: Hon. Mushoriwa, I asked Hon. Kanupula if he mentioned anything to do with zvimbwasungata in this House which he said he did not.  If Hansard Department has recorded that he said that, then tomorrow he is going to withdraw – [HON. MEMBERS: Inaudible interjections.] –

         HON. MUSHORIWA: It will be contempt of Parliament.

         *THE TEMPORAY SPEAKER: Order Hon. Mushoriwa, you see what you are doing [HON. HLATYWAYO: Inaudible interjection.]- Hon. Hlatywayo, I have pardoned you many times, I am requesting you to behave.  You asked for indulgence and we gave four Members the opportunity to debate and you are doing this.

         *HON. D. MOYO: I want to add my points to this 2025 National Budget which we are now debating on some gaps that were left out in the 2024 National Budget. We are debating about the money that is not yet in our hands.  Most of our ministries are yet to be allocated money.  We have been having promises that fail to be fulfilled. My prayer is that what we have budgeted for this year be disbursed.  Where I come from in Nkulumane, there is an issue on macro, small and medium enterprises.  The 2025 National Budget left a lot of gaps because we do not have sufficient funds to fund the SMEs so that they can formalise their operations. 

         In this regard, I urge that may we have other programmes and the budget allocations to fund these activities to raise their capital? May we also look at registration fees and decrease the initial compliance costs?  It will help small businesses to be formalized and be able to comply with paying taxes.  The funds that have been allocated are just a drop in the ocean, they are not enough. My prayer is, may we increase this budget… - [HON. MEMBERS: Inaudible interjections.] -

         THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: Hon. D. Moyo, I want you to continue with your debate but avoid repeating what has already been said.

         *HON. D. MOYO: The Ministry of Women Affairs, if the budget is increased, it would promote businesses, like river sand business and also other small clubs that women are engaged in.  People are suffering Hon. Speaker, new business owners are not happy with this budget because it did not take into account their plight.  Operating a business in this environment is like digging your own grave because here in Zimbabwe we do not have anything being offered.  We must have tax holidays for these small businesses for six months from the beginning of the business so that they can be able to grow.  Small business operators who are starting are carrying a heavy burden on them because these taxes are crippling their business.  May we analyse the current tax framework so that we can be able to have Zimbabweans that are opening meaningful business and create business opportunities rather than this situation whereby people are suffering a lot.

         It is true that the country is built by its own people but it is also a pity that the country is being destroyed by its own people because we do not have significant businesses that the owners of the country own.  Finally, I say to the Minister of Finance, assist me so that I do not die before seeing this - Bulawayo, Zambezi water project must be completed.  Secondly, I must not die before the Nkayi-Tsholotsho-Rupisa Road is finished before the end of this year.   Thirdly, those who are on pensionable age be paid their dues before they die.

         The wealth of the country is for everyone not for the minority. I wish that this budget could assist and also promote the good life of people of Nkulumane in Matabeleland and everyone.  With these few words, I thank you.  The country must be developed by its citizens not by thieves. 

         HON. S. TSHUMA: On a point of order Hon. Speaker.

         THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: What is your point of order?

         *HON. S. TSHUMA: The Hon. Member is speaking very fast and the interpreter is failing to cope with the interpretation. What he was saying is that there are thieves that are stealing daily.  He said that people are looting and destroying the country, he is saying a lot of words that are not developing this country. If this is possible, may the Hansard Department look closely to what he is saying.

         *THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: But the interpreter was interpreting well but maybe those who understand the language better can assist.

         *HON. B. NDLOVU: I did understand what the Hon. Member was saying while debating. He was insulting saying that the country should be built by its citizens, not to be built by thieves from within. To say ‘thieves’ is insulting.

         *THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: Hon. G. Moyo, the country is led by the Government. So, are you saying the Government are the thieves?

         +HON. G. MOYO: Hon. Speaker, what I am saying is that the country should be developed by the owners, not by thieves. If there are people who want thieves to develop the country it is wrong.

         *THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: Hon. Government Chief Whip, I know you understand all languages, the interpreters did very well but I did not get the real words that were uttered by the Hon. Member. Kindly assist me so that I can make a ruling in this House.

         HON. TOGAREPI: The Hon. Member was very general until the last statement when he said ‘hokoyo’. I think that is a threat to whoever he is threatening but I think we should not boggle ourselves in to funny languages, let us proceed with work.

         *THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: Thank you Chief Whip. We would like to proceed. Hon. Sithole, kindly use friendly language which is not insulting.

         HON. S. SITHOLE: You are my mother and thank you for the opportunity which you have given me. I want to thank the Minister of Finance, his deputy and the team from the Ministry for presenting the 2025 Budget in this House. I will differ a little bit from the others but also do not quote me wrong.

            Hon. Minister of Finance, my opinion is, why do you not pay all the bids which they bid for? Then the credit for the last budget must belong to the Treasury but I am supporting your budget. I am supporting it. So, in the last part I will make it easier for you where you are going to get that money? 

Secondly, Hon. Minister, I think the issue of war veterans and war collaborators, they have some mines and they have some farms. I think our Committee on Defence and Security is supposed to assist you to visit those farms and mines. Either they do the PPP with others to bring the money which can pay the war collaborators –[HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear] – because when we are here debating the budget, we are supposed to assist you, not like we are fighting you. All of us, we see our economy in our country because of sanctions, also corruption which is there.

Hon. Minister, we are here to assist to bring up our opinions to make this country move. We suppose as a Committee which is set up by Parliament to assist you are supposed to go with the Minister of Finance, Committees of Lands and Defence , members of the war collaborators, Minister of War Collaborators - we must be combined and go and see how many farms they got, how many mines they got.  Also, the Defence and Prison and how many farms they got. Are they utilising those farms or they need assistance because you are not supposed to beat the dog behind the bush, we must be straightforward when we want to build our country?

We understand the Defence or the Police, either the Police is having 28 farms and not utilising those farms. We must teach them to do private-public partnership.  I think we will have to go. Where I am coming from, in Matabeleland there in Insiza, we got Bulembe irrigation, which is allocated to people but now they are taking that land and they are leasing out to white farmers. The white farmers ploughed the maize before, they just slashed all that maize to feed some cattle.  So, I do not know but we are supposed to look also around that.

Unfortunately, when we are talking about this, thank you Minister of Information, today he is here up to the end. We thank you.  When we are speaking like this, Minister of Mines and so on, all the Ministers, they are supposed to be here and then help you with the ideas which are coming from the Honourable Members. Bulembe Irrigation is supposed to feed Matabeleland, but they are failing.

HON. TSVANGIRAI: My point of order is that I am kindly requesting Hon. Sithole to debate what is in the budget.  What he is saying is not in the budget.

         ^*THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: He is debating very well.  He only mentioned that he wished all Hon. Ministers to be here present whilst debating this.  Can you proceed Hon. Sithole?

         HON. S. SITHOLE: When we come to the Hon. Minister of Energy – you know those workers who do meter readings, they engage in corruption – [HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear.]– they go to the mines – the mine is supposed to pay either $10 000 or $14 000, they are not paying that.  They pay them either $4 000 for corruption and then they make them pay either $1 000. 

         So, they are supposed to be all around the country, they have to change all the staff who do meter reading at ZESA.  They are killing the institution. What we are saying is reality and then we come to help the Hon. Minister…

         THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: I want you to continue with your debate but stick to the budget debate. 

         HON. S. SITHOLE: Thank you very much.  Hon. Minister, I just want to help on the issue of health.  We have How Mine, Mimosa, Unki, that is why I am saying the Minister of Mines is supposed to be here and the Hon. Minister of Health is supposed to be here to help you team up and go to How Mine and Vumba there.

         We need diagnosis, people are dying, and then we make those mines to donate either three machines in Matebeleland.  Every province to have three or four machine diagnosis machines, simple.

         I will never leave Agribank.  Agribank also is having some land.  We were having a workshop in Bulawayo where we heard that they have been offered land, so they are supposed to do a revisit also to them.  Hon. Minister, I said where are you going to get the money from?  Do not shy, do not be intimidated by these people.  Even these people who are selling maize by the road are supposed to pay.  Why I am saying they are supposed to pay, I do not want to repeat, hawker’s licences.  Everyone should have those hawker’s licences because if you do not do that, where are you going to get the money to say it must be for emergency disbursement? 

         ZIMRA, that charges more money, say you want to create more sources of money. I do not think it is good. We are supposed either to say a bus, I do not know how much bus fare is, maybe $40 and then $10 for luggage.  ZIMRA officials are corrupt at the border there.  There is no one who can be a border jumper.  People will bring everything here and then you can make a lot of money.  Now when we say those people who are roasting maize cobs must pay $2 per month, how many people are there?  Ninety two per cent in our country are informal workers. So, we are going to make huge sums of money and then everything will be okay. 

         Can you give us the old bid and then after six months we are going to make all the money?  I thank you.

         HON. ENG. MHANGWA: Thank you Madam Speaker Ma’am for the opportunity, good morning. It is indeed important that we add the voice of the people of Chinhoyi in this budget.  I will divide my debate into two parts.

         A message that I have been asked to relay by the people of Chinhoyi and the four pillars that I seek to debate in terms of infrastructure; on the first part, there is a general belief that the budget skirts on a potential initiative to tax big business, especially our all-weather friends.

         One member from Chinhoyi tacitly put it that there is a brick factory in the outskirts of Chinhoyi that insists on strictly payments in US dollar. It has so much production but I bet on my last ZiG that they may not be putting their money into the fiscus.  There is so much scope in that it is more beneficial to focus on that direction rather than the poor in the form of the fast food tax, the betting tax that we have. 

         I will not dwell much on that, but I will go on to the other issue.  As the Hon. Minister presented the budget, bullet 316 seemed encouraging, but the figures of our four pillars of infrastructure development are a fulcrum. Ideally, the four quadruples; Energy, Transport, Water and Sanitation and ICT infrastructure have to be taken care of and have certain thresholds. 

         If our budget has to be a development-oriented budget, ideally, 3% to 4% of GDP for energy and yet in our budget – [HON. MEMBERS: Inaudible interjections.]- May I be allowed to debate in silence?  And yet in our budget we have 0.09% of the budget being allocation to energy.  Transport equally in all best practices, for countries with ambitions like ours, to become upper middle-income countries by 2030 would require 2 to 3% of GDP annually for the next five years.  Again, a paltry 1.7, and the same can be said for water and sanitation. 

         When we had a pre-budget, Madam Speaker Ma’am, the people of Chinhoyi were very happy when they heard the Hon. Minister comment that we had reverently spoken about the need for refurbishment and upgrade of water and waste treatment in the urban areas like Marondera, Chinhoyi and Bindura and of the similar size.

         Surprisingly, Mr. Speaker, at the presentation of the budget, the mention of water still remains the same jingle.  The dams and boreholes – there was no provision made for waste water and water treatment plants. 

         Madam Speaker, it is one thing that I yearn for to be included in this budget.  When I turn to energy, it is commendable that there is deferment of VAT for IPPs.  This is a necessary but not sufficient condition to adequately lure investment into the sector. There is need to address the currency convertibility question.  In light of our dire situation and the duration needed to break even in these projects predominantly, we are targeting foreign capital and there should be a clear path of repatriation of profits.  I want to applaud further the exemption on LPG gas.  It encourages use and indeed beyond this, there is need to have deliberate policy to have pipe gas to the House.

 Reduction of VAT on electric vehicle is commendable, futuristic and progressive but more needs to be done in this sector.  A few recommendations to the Minister in terms of energy; provide Treasury support to the sector by removing hurdles faced by the industry.  Provide adequate funding as has been requested by the Ministry to fully devolve into the provinces and lead the energy planning prior to the roll-out.  There is need for us to have an integrated energy resources plan and this is dire. 

The biggest power station we can ever build is conserving the energy that we already have.  The Ministry has a problem that it envisages a programme that will have a policy on energy efficiency but it is not adequate just to have a policy.  We should lead from the public sector, we should have a roll-out, not just for behavioural change but for technology change in all our public buildings, in all our pump stations, in all our streets lights, we start by saving the energy that we already have before we look at building more power stations.  This is the cheapest and fastest route to help us in our energy crisis. 

Madam Speaker, further incentives by easing or simplifying the prescribed assets status is something the industry yearns for even if this is made default to renewable energy  projects, it may even help bring that pension funds money that Hon. Togarepi referred to because it is tangible and it is an asset that is bankable.  This may further open our industry to players from the world over.  We need to be forward thinking when it comes to manufacturing of our solar panels.  Currently the world over, they are using crystalline silicon which makes up 95% of the market but guess what? Giraffine which is a product of graphite has better performance, 150% better than silicon.  Lynx Mine that provided graphite has gone down in Zimbabwe. Sadly, we had the mine and we were in the top ten of graphite producing nations.  It is my recommendation that support in resuscitating Lynx Mine to be part of what we do so that we may be a market leader in producing solar panels.  The import bill is huge and unsustainable.  It can only be helped by local production and we have been blessed by God, we have been endowed by graphite and graphite is the next thing. 

Madam Speaker, in many countries, even if the price is not the best on the world market, they treat these as strategic minerals, minerals that the country should take giraffine and lithium, the strategic minerals that can leapfrog us out of  the energy crisis that we are bedeviled with – [HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear.] – Madam Speaker Ma’am, the majority of the other things that I wanted to mention have been mentioned before and I so submit.  I thank you. 

         *HON. TAFANANA ZHOU: Thank you Madam Speaker Ma’am.  I would like to thank the Hon. Minister of Finance for presenting this Budget Statement which I would like to debate on and ensure that the country moves forward.  I will start by handling the issue to do with the projects which are always published in our Blue Book almost every year.  I am kindly asking Hon. Speaker Ma’am, if you look into those projects which are always listed in these Blue Books, kindly consider those projects because every year those projects are listed in the annual budget. 

         On the issue to do with the staff of Parliament or the issue to do with Members of Parliament, there is need for a reasonable budget. I would like to talk on the issue of magnificent new Parliament building which is number one in Africa.  Whenever we want to safeguard this structure, we need to have reasonable budget allocated to this Parliament.  I can see that the plans which were drafted for this Parliament are not up to standard.  In our parking spaces, we do not have those sheds, I am kindly asking the Hon. Minister to adjust the budget of Parliament which will then cater for this august House since it is one of the places which will be used by African leaders.  They must not come and see it at the same status. 

         Also, let me refer to the issue of Primary and Secondary Education. We urge the Hon. Minister to look for the money just like what he did for the PPPs when you managed to construct 17 schools all over this country.  One of the schools is in my constituency which is called Neta Secondary, which was actually built by His Excellency, our very own President.  If the Hon. Minister can try such deals next year so that we can have unity between the Government and those public partners which will then come in and assist, it would be wonderful.

         Madam Speaker, I will touch on the issue of mines where you said there will be cooperation between various ministries so that they can look into the environment and mining.  Hon. Minister, we have a Ministry which is focusing on environment.  I am kindly saying the funds which were allocated to Mines, kindly add more money on issues to do with exploration but for the environment, they have to ensure that that wherever mining activities take place, the mining area should be reinstated into its normal state. 

         Madam Speaker Ma’am, on the issue of setting up at the mines, Hon. Minister kindly try to separate the pegging of these mines, the local miners should be separate from those of foreigners.  We have one country by the name Zimbabwe, foreigners must come and invest more into the country’s fiscus but they should not be treated as locals – [HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear.] -  If you go to foreign countries like Zambia or Botswana, you cannot do anything.  For those foreigners, as they come in here, they will simply bring their identification cards and they will be charged the same fee with the locals, kindly separate the two.  You can increase the amount charged for locals but for the foreigners, you should increase the charges so that we have more funds.  Thank you Hon. Speaker.

         HON. MASVISVI: Thank you Madam Speaker Ma’am, let me applaud the Minister of Finance as well as his 2025 National Budget. A lot was said before, I had much to say concerning agriculture in rural development and drought mitigation which was then debated by previous speakers. I heard some issues that I wanted to discuss and debate on the Ministry of Health and Child Care about equipment. I also have something to say on the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education with regards to the infrastructure because some of the infrastructure that we have need to be decommissioned but now let me debate on other things which were not debated by others.

          The Ministry of Finance belongs to Hon. Minister Ncube.  In The 2024 National Budget, we had some saboteurs who then took up time to the early hours of the day after three months, you know those saboteurs had to shoot down the budget which we had agreed on. Now I am currently requesting for your Ministry to have a vision of defending the 2025 budget because you and I have to agree on whether you are from the left or right side, let us just say Zimbabwe first, as with its budget just like it is being debated like right now.

         Let us defend our 2025 National Budget, which should be achieved because that is what we call our country. Let me again speak to the issue of industry and commerce we saw the funds that you allocated to them for the 2025 National Budget because in industry and commerce, we need production. We want imports of the things that we produce here to be small but we need to increase the number of exports which we send out of the country so that we save foreign currency which will then give us employment to our youngsters who are crying of unemployment.

         My contribution will be on the energy sector. Our beloved country has a lot of coal not only in Hwange but in other areas as well. We have Gokwe Semwa which has good coal. For all the explorations that have anything to do with energy let us look into Gokwe North. If we have PPP we will end up having energy and exporting energy because our engineers discovered that we have vast quantities of coal. Right now we have Manhize they are mining coal but we are still importing coal. We know that thermal power is coming from coal.

         I believe that you will understand that if we cannot do it instantly, let it be a process so that we can close the issue of energy challenges. I thank you, Madam Speaker Ma’am.

THE MINISTER OF FINANCE, ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND INVESTMENT PROMOTION (HON. PROF. M. NCUBE): Thank you Madam Speaker Ma’am.  Let me start by thanking all the Hon. Members for their contributions which have been very valuable in shaping our 2025 Budget and budget proposals. First of all, I really want to thank the various Committee Chairpersons for the good work that they have done and the reports that they have presented in this august House, their comments and proposals have been most valuable.

The general consensus from various Committee Chairpersons is that there was insufficient budget allocation across all votes but this is inevitable, given resource constraints that limit our ability as Treasury to allocate the desired levels of funding.  This is for our side of the economy and our capacity we are able to collect about 18% of GDP in the form of revenue so this becomes a ceiling.  It becomes a constraint beyond that it is about borrowing we would have to borrow and that is also not easy.  We cannot borrow without limits given our high level of debt already which has been mentioned by Hon. Members.

The total value of bids for the 2025 National Budget is of the order of ZiG700 billion this is against the expenditure initially projected at about ZiG140 billion.  If you recall this was a figure that we discussed when we were at the retreat in Bulawayo but after the outcry from Hon. Members that we need to increase the budget and look for more money we did and we have raised the budget now to 276 billion.   So, we have already responded since the last discussion in Bulawayo to the requirements that we should increase the budget.  As a result, every MDA got the increase but is still below what they were expecting because we could not allocate ZiG700 billion. In fact, that is very close to the level of GDP of the country.  Can you imagine allocating the entire GDP to Government spending, that would be impossible.

Madam Speaker Ma’am the resources inadequacies of significantly higher demands imply that we are significantly incapacitated to support all the proposed budget requirements by the various committees.  We also had to put some resources in the unallocated reserve account which also cannot support much, it is just the usual contingency to deal with shocks here and there in terms of the budget expenditure.

I am happy that there is a general consensus to explore measures to enhance revenue collections which is what we have been discussing.  In this regard, some interventions were proposed through this budget aimed at enhancing revenue collection.  I also wish to advise that resource inadequacies has been made to appropriate resources in a manner that supports our development aspirations, mindful of the need to support the less privileged members of society through pro-poor allocations and programmes in our social sectors that include agriculture, health, education and social welfare. Allow me also to address some notable issues that were raised by the various Portfolio Committee Chairs. 

          Madam Speaker, I want to extend my appreciation to the Portfolio Committee on Budget, Finance and Investment Promotion.  That report was given by Hon. Chiduwa.  It produced a comprehensive report from stakeholders covering all sectors across the economy.  This Portfolio Committee made some observations as follows:  That we need to do an upward review of the ZIMRA budget to 3% of the net revenue collections in recognition of the institution’s critical role in mobilising the much-needed resources required to fund the programmes and projects to support our development aspirations.  Again, we have listened to this and the request was that perhaps we need to support them in acquiring decent office accommodation.  This is a good proposal.  We have taken it on board.  This also includes a proposal to perhaps borrow some resources so that we can move faster on this project. 

There was also a proposal from the Committee that the BEAM fund should be managed directly by the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education as opposed to the Ministry of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare.  Again, we feel that this proposal has merit, so we will take it to the Government processes mill and see if we can move in that direction. The call really is that of efficiency in the administration of this BEAM fund.  We will take this forward.

Madam Speaker, Treasury acknowledges the importance of adequately supporting ZIMRA in order to improve its revenue mobilisation capabilities.  In this regard, Treasury will honour the recommendation by the Committee to secure a loan for the purchase of a building with repayment secured by the current rentals.  This will be complemented by additional operational support amounting to ZiG 200 million targeting, among others, ICT enhancements is proposed.

With regard to employment costs for ZIMRA personnel, Treasury has already approved an exceptional performance award for ZIMRA employees equivalent to 5% of excess revenues.  This intervention is expected to boost worker morale and revenue collection efforts.  These interventions should bring the ZIMRA budget close to the desired 3% of the revenue that the Committee has proposed.  Madam Speaker, it will however be critical to ensure that these interventions do not also create distortions among State agencies.  So we are always sensitive to this and so, we try to balance things.

With regard to ZIMSTAT, a building was procured for the agency and will be renovated in 2025 to improve habitability.  I therefore propose an additional allocation of ZiG 40 million towards ZIMSTAT in response to the Committees’ recommendations.

In respect of allocations mirroring the disbursement, Treasury through the Cash Flow Management Committee, will ensure timeous disbursements as we execute the 2025 budget.  As I have said, I have also taken on board the suggestions around the management of BEAM. 

Let me also turn to the recommendations from the Portfolio Committee on Energy and Power Development.  Madam Speaker, I want to extend my appreciation to the Chair of the Portfolio Committee on Energy and Power Development, Hon. Eng. L. Mhangwa and I take note of all the issues raised.  These include increased allocations, timeous disbursement of resources, allocations for Rural Electrification Fund and Energy Efficiency Fund.  In respect of these additional observations, Treasury is proposing to allocate an additional ZiG 150 million to the Ministry of Energy and Power Development.

I now turn to the Portfolio Committee on Sport, Recreation, Arts and Culture.  Madam Speaker, I want to extend my appreciation to the Chair of the Committee on Sport, Recreation, Arts and Culture, Hon. R. Chiwanza.  The Committee raised very valid points which include increased funding for capital projects, mainly the construction of stadiums.  The Government remains committed to supporting sports as shown by the recent support extended to the victorious Warriors that qualified for AFCON.  It is therefore our expectation that funds allocated for 2025 will enable finalisation of the on-going stadium works, particularly the National Sports Stadium in 2025.  We will see a lot of progress in this regard.

Let me turn to the Portfolio Committee on Information Communication Technology, Postal and Courier Services.  Madam Speaker, I want to extend my appreciation to the Chair of the Portfolio Committee, Hon. D. Chigumbu.  The Committee highlighted key concerns that include huge debts to service providers, burdening the Ministry as well as low allocation to the Ministry.  Accordingly, the Committee recommended an upward revision of the allocated budget support, a special procurement dispensation for the Ministry of Information Communication Technology, Postal and Courier Services in order to expedite the digitalisation of our economy.  I have noted the concerns raised, particularly for this key Ministry which may undermine effectiveness as the key driver for transition to a traditional economy.  I, therefore, propose an additional allocation of ZiG 150 million to extinguish these debts and to support the Ministry of Information Communication Technology, Postal and Courier Services.

I now turn to the Portfolio Committee on Tourism and Hospitality Industry.  Madam Speaker, the Portfolio Committee Chairperson, Hon. J. Mamombe, raised various issues around increased allocation to the sector and provision of funds set for the ZTA in Beitbridge.  Treasury acknowledges the critical role tourism plays in Zimbabwe’s economic transformation alongside mining, agriculture and other sectors.  Despite limited fiscal space, we remain committed to ensuring the efficient utilisation of allocated resources and identifying solutions to address the challenges highlighted in the report from the Committee.

Let me turn to the Committee on Transport and Infrastructural Development.  Madam Speaker, the Committee chaired by Hon. Kaitano recommended an increase in the capital budget to the Ministry towards road infrastructure, contractual debts, and recapitalisation of parastatals such as NRZ.  The Committee further proposed for facilitation of Public-Private Partnerships for NRZ on a Build-Operate-Transfer basis and the financing of information management systems at the Civil Aviation Authority of Zimbabwe.

Madam Speaker, regarding the funding of the NRZ, currently engagements are ongoing with private and public funders whom we are soliciting to fund the upgrade of the NRZ, upgrading both the fixed stock railway line, the rolling stock as well as the signal infrastructure.  We are involved with at least three potential funders for this programme.  I think certainly we will see progress in the revamping of that infrastructure.

Going into 2025, work will continue on completion of major roads such as the Beitbridge-Harare-Chirundu Road, the Beitbridge-Bulawayo-Victoria Falls Highway, the Kwekwe-Nkayi-Lupane Road and the Mbudzi Interchange for example and other faulty roads earmarked for rehabilitation in the 2025 budget. The comments were made by some colleagues that perhaps have forgotten other roads in the rural areas and so forth who have note that there are 40 different roads that were revamped or targeted in the 2025 budget.

         May I inform the House that the 2025 budget allocation has prioritised such projects given their significance to the economy. We note some of the concerns raised regarding the payment standing obligations. It may be noted that Treasury in collaboration with the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructural Development, has engaged various contractors and has come up with the payment plan for the outstanding obligation.

Someone said that we have a very good working relationship with all the contractors despite some of the delays in paying them, we work very well with them. They are also grateful that we have capacitated them by preferring them to be the contractors as opposed to foreign contractors as was the case before. We are also very pleased with the quality of their work in general so much that it is a very pleasant relationship that we have with them.

I now turn to the Committee on Youth Empowerment, Development and Vocational Training. I want to extend my appreciation to the Chair of the Portfolio Committee on Youth Empowerment, Development and Vocational Training Hon. M. Ziyambi. The Committee recommended capitalisation of the Empower Bank, additional allocation of funds for construction of additional vocational training centres and refurbishment of existing facilities, access mechanisms for the national venture capital fund be improved and in the youth awareness of funding opportunities.

With regards to Empower Bank, we are exploring the issue of the prescribed asset status. This is new for the bank. So, they have already made the application and it is being processed by IPEC which are the regulator at the moment, but it will take a bit of time because it is all new to them in terms of understanding what needs to be done in order to access this provision or this privilege.

I now turn to the Portfolio Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Trade. Let me appreciate the Portfolio Committee Chairperson, Hon. W. Shamu on the report. We take note of the subscription arrears highlighted and we will deal with them and improve the allocation for the Osaka 2025 Expo. This is to Zimtrade. Treasury is open to discuss with the ministry proposals for land swap deals and PPPs for the construction and refurbishment of Zimbabwe’s missions abroad.

Regarding the Osaka 2025 Expo, we had budgeted in line with the size of our stand but we stand ready to support Zimtrade should they require additional budget because this is the window to the world. We have to put our best food forward, it has to work well and so we are happy to extend the extra budget in this regard.

I now turn to the Portfolio Committee on Primary and Secondary Education. The Chairperson of the Committee, Hon. Murambiwa raised the issues that are pertinent to the improvement of our education sector as well as the plight of the girl child. The ministry has allocated about 20% of the budget in line with the Dakar Declaration on Education. This will stand as a direct response to the Committee concerns as well as interventions by various Hon. Members. Treasury is proposing to allocate an additional ZWG126 million towards sanitary wear for the girl child. – [HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear]-

Let me turn to the Portfolio Committee on Local Government and Public Works. We note the concerns raised by the Chairperson of the Committee on Local Government and Public Works, Hon. S. Mandiwanzira. Treasury acknowledges that disbursements on inter-governmental fiscal transfers have always been below 5% since its inception in 2019. It may be noted that it is only the 2019 fiscal year when Treasury managed to fully disburse above half of the 5% that has to be disbursed. We will work harder in future to improve disbursement in this regard but also, we welcome the launch of the manual for inter-governmental fiscal transfer systems administration, which we believe will also improve accountability but we also welcome the work that has begun in terms of aligning the legislative issues with the Constitution.

Let me turn to the issue of procurement of State Occasion Equipment. Over the years, Treasury has been providing resources towards procurement of various pieces of equipment such as tents and chairs for state occasions. Treasury will continue to provide support towards procurement when necessary. We will always do this since there is no issue there, but given the magnitude of the resource requirement, Treasury will procure the required equipment on a phased approach commencing with most critical equipment as guided by the Ministry of Local Government and Public Works.

We also note the concerns raised by the Portfolio Committee on Local Government and Public Works regarding seeking alternative funding mechanisms for housing delivery. Treasury takes note of the concerns raised. However, may the House be informed that Government is already working with the private sector, the pension funds in the financing of affordable housing delivery.

Let me turn to the Committee on Higher Education. We note the concerns raised by the Portfolio Chair on the construction of new institutions of higher learning. It may be noted that thrust to the 2025 budget was prioritised as ongoing projects. It is certainly correct that we did not budget it for these additional higher education institutions which are aimed at bringing equity across our various regions. Having listened to the debate, we will do something about allocating budget towards those new institutions. I think it was in Binga, Plumtree and Chivi.

On the Portfolio Committee on Agriculture, we also note the concerns around the 10% allocation towards agriculture in line with the Maputo Declaration. We have slightly exceeded the 10% with 11% allocation, which is above that Maputo target. We note the concerns raised by the various Committees as I said on timeous disbursement of resources, we will endeavour to do better.

I now want to mention the other additional allocation that I want to propose for the various MDAs where we feel that we should add something. These additional resources for these MDAs are coming from the contingency reserve of the unallocated reserves. I propose that for the Parliament of Zimbabwe, the current allocation was ZWG1.7 billion. I propose an additional ZWG500 million which will take the Parliament Budget to ZWG2.253 billion.

I have already mentioned the Primary and Secondary Education but I will repeat it for emphasis. The current budget was ZWG46.6 billion and I am proposing additional allocation of ZWG126 million towards sanitary wear, which will take the total of this ministry’s budget to ZiG46.76 billion.

I now turn to the Ministry of Information, Communication Technology, Posts and Courier Services. We had allocated ZiG641 million and I am proposing an additional budget of ZiG150 million, taking the total for this ministry to ZiG791.4 million.

On the Audit Office. A few Members of this august House also request that we add additional budget to this very important office. The current budget is ZiG589 million. I propose an additional ZiG100 million towards the Audit Office budget, which will take the new budget to ZiG689 million.

I now turn to the Ministry of Energy and Power Development. Again, I am repeating for emphasis that we increase the budget for this ministry by ZiG150 million. It is currently ZiG259.8 million so that will take it to a ZiG109.8 million. To support ZIMRA and ZimStat, I am proposing an additional ZWG240 million for that purpose. ZiG200 million will go towards ZIMRA and ZiG40 million towards ZimStat. This will increase the Ministry of Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion Budget from ZIG9.18 billion to 9.42 billion.

Let me turn to the Ministry of Women’s Affairs. Again, there was a passionate plea that we increase the budget for Zimbabwe Women Micro-Finance Bank. I propose an increase in the capitalisation budget by an amount of ZiG20 million. For the Youth Empowerment Bank, I propose an increase of ZiG72.4 million. For the Small and Medium Enterprise Development Corporation (SMEDCO), I propose an increase in that capitalisation budget by an amount of ZiG20 million. You will notice that for these three critical institutions that support the special groups, each of them now will receive an additional ZiG150 million overall, ZiG150 million each. That is what this increase will do. I also propose that the Ministry of Skills Development, which is a new Ministry Madam Speaker, we should increase its budget by another ZiG100 million, which will take its budget to ZiG253 million in total. These are just the adjustments I am proposing again to a robust debate.

I will carry on Madam Speaker, and let me be drawn to contribution from the Chair of the Sports Committee. The Chairperson appreciated withholding tax on betting and proposed that the revenue thereof be ring-fenced towards sports. The proposal is noted for consideration. We will consider this. I think it is a good idea. There may be other ideas but the idea of ring-fencing it to target specific issues is a good one.

Hon. Dumbarimwe mentioned that the support on limiting, the deductibility of royalty for use of trademarks and patents is appreciated. You realise that the proposal to limit deductibility to one and a half percent of revenue or the comparable transactions thereof is intended to address the profit shifting and base erosion. With regards to enhanced post clearance audits, the appreciation of the proposal is noted. We believe this will work Madam Speaker, in dealing with issues of smuggling.

On the proposal to review the tax-free threshold, it is noted. The Members will note that the local currency threshold was adjusted in line with the current macro-economic terms as well as the need to create a balance between providing relief to tax payers as well as safeguarding the tax base. That is what we considered in this move.

I now turn to Hon. Khupe. I want to highlight one point she made on the proposal to ensure that revenue from beverage and sugar content tax is utilised in line with the intended purpose, which is to support the cancer response agenda. I am pleased to advise that the Minister of Health and Child Care is seized with the procurement of cancer machines. Once we have completed that process, we would then be able to disburse the funds to them.

Hon. Mukomberi appreciated and supported the tax measures introduced through the Budget. The principles behind the fast foods tax, betting tax, plastic bag tax, excise duty, VAT on LPG being removed, the adjustment in the beverages sugar content tax among others, is highly appreciated and Hon. Mukomberi was supportive. Thank you very much.

Hon. Kangausaru also echoed the same sentiments on tax measures as highlighted by Hon. Mukomberi in appreciating the tax measures. He also proposed that some of the revenue generated from the health-related measures be ring-fenced accordingly and we support that, such as the fast food tax should go towards the health sector. On the LPG VAT issue, with regards to the proposal for VAT zero rating for LPG, I wish to advise that Government has already adopted a policy stance targeted at limiting tax expenditures, particularly on zero ratings. That is how we came up with the idea of VAT removal as opposed to zero rating.

In addition, I wish to advise that the proposed VAT exemption will cushion households and the perceived disruption of local manufacturing of gas will be minimal since the bulk of LPG is imported and distributed accordingly. Hon. Dhliwayo proposed to introduce windfall tax on mining proceeds and that is noted.  I am pleased to advise that Government will continue to explore the prospects thereof.

Turning to the Government Chief, Hon. Togarepi sitting next to me, he made a passionate contribution as to why we should work hard to expand the tax base and that citizens ought to develop a culture of paying tax. That way, we can fund the services that we so desire and we should not complain of poor services if we have not paid our taxes. That plea was clear and he made other proposals which we have taken note of.

Madam Speaker, we have noted Hon. Ganyiwa’s proposal to introduce land use levies on agricultural land, especially those who are not using it properly. This is noted. We will pursue it. Madam Speaker, I also note some of the issues that were raised by the Chair of the Committee on Budget, Finance and Investment Promotion, Hon. Chiduwa and I am just filling in some gaps here that in terms of the beneficiation tax, there is a recommendation that we should ban exports of PGMs concentrate and advocate for the use of the beneficiation plant that Zimplats has developed. Again, these are good and progressive proposals. We will certainly think in that direction to make sure that we maximise on the infrastructure that we have already invested in going forward.

Hon. Chiduwa also recommended that payment of royalties should be based on the actual proceeds realised by producers, not on proforma invoices which do not reflect the actual price at the time the product is valued. I take note of the recommendation. However, the proposal by Treasury to deem minerals as sold at the value determined on the date on which any sales contract is entered or day on which the purchaser received the product, whichever is higher, is meant for the fiscus to fully realise the gains of the sales contract of minerals. That is what motivated us but we appreciate the proposal.

On the taxation of the informal sector Madam Speaker, I also take note of recommendations to Government to make use of existing registration databases in local authorities in order to enhance revenue collection from the informal sector. The recommendation is noted. I would like to assure Hon. Members that this will be implemented. We are going to follow up on this aggressively.

On the special sugar beverages sugar tax, I thank again the Portfolio Committee on Budget, Finance and Investment Promotion for complimenting this proposal where we made adjustment and lower the tax for cordials compared to ready to drink drinks. Hon. Members, I take note and concur with the recommendation that Government should undertake a study to determine the cost of regulation with a view to inform possible reviews. In fact, I now suspect that Madam Speaker, the fees that are collected by various regulatory agencies from any given business now far exceed the taxes that business pays to ZIMRA. We think this is so but we are going to do a study which will be ready by the end of the first quarter next year. We are happy to share that with the Committee and Parliament as a whole.

Let me turn to the issue of withholding tax on betting. Madam Speaker, Hon. Chiduwa and other Members also recommended a minimum tax-free threshold of USD500 or some tax threshold of the winnings from the sports betting punters. Hon. Members will be aware that the 10% withholding tax on punter winnings is already competitive as compared to that charged on various activities which ranges from withholding taxes on fees, dividends, royalties and contracts which range from 15% to 30%.

We also did our research in the region and found that the withholding tax in Zambia was initially set at 20%. Betting tax,  they have just taken it down to 10%.  So we are aligned with some of the neighbours and Kenya is also at 10% withholding tax.  We feel that we benchmark sufficiently but going forward as you can see, we are always flexible.  We review these things and we listen.  We are not rigid at all.  We are also trying to make a better country for all of us but we thought let us go ahead with the 10% withholding tax and then we analyse the impact as we go forward.

         There is an issue of payment of debts.  The proposal to adjust the debt for first of January 2025 to first of February 2025 was to allow for smooth transition, this is noted.  I plead with the Hon. Members to know that VT operators are using this window period for the policy announcement date to adjust to the proposal.

         Furthermore, since the policy takes effect from one January 2025, this will have an impact on collection remitted after the 2025 fiscal year.  On fast food tax, I take note of the Portfolio Committee on Budget Finance and Investment Promotion’s advice that the fast food tax applied at a rate of 0.5% has minimal factory price and hence, minimal disturbance on consumption.  The Committee made a proposal that this could be raised to one percent.  So, I propose that we raise to one percent and then ring-fence it for the health sector.

         Madam Speaker Ma’am, I am now turn to additional requirements and input from other Members.  I may not cover everybody, but I think it is important to recognise some of the key unique points.  From Hon. Mapiki, he talked about perhaps charging these mining companies that are damaging roads two to three percent to repair the roads.  All these are good proposals that we have to examine going forward. However, we have to think carefully of how to apply it.  So this is well-noted.  He also mentioned the point about that Hawkers’ Licences, perhaps it should be issued at a national level not local authority.  He is just yearning for that congruence and alignment between local authorities and what ZIMRA does.  All these are ideas that are going in the right direction.

         Hon. S. Dube proposed that we should set up youth led provincial committees, which will be created to make sure that there is a fair allocation of funds and to monitor the funds.  All these are useful ideas, in terms of the architecture, the local authority level will examine and see if we can implement it if it is at value.  He also mentioned the issue of creating innovative hubs to support youth entrepreneurs.  This is really welcome.

         Hon. Buka again, very passionate about the support of Women’s Bank.  As you can see, we have already increased the capital support towards that bank.  We might also support towards BEAM, he also mentioned that.  For agriculture maybe we should not forget the small dams, but we are following what we agree, which is focussing on few dams and big dams and get those done – the Gwayi-Shangani and Kunzvi are top of the list. 

         Hon. Murwira, thank you for the comments around the support for the war veterans, vetting programme and support for the defence forces.  There is Home Affairs and women sector, we are also supporting that.  There is one point that Hon. Matinenga mentioned on suspension of duty on buses, this may not be a good idea.  Can I pursue you that it is actually a very good idea because it is not being applied as a single policy?  We are applying it jointly with the incentives towards semi-lock down kits which are imported.  Those will be incentivised and assembled locally, we will continue to supply buses. 

The difference that they will not be supplying by a local producer will create jobs and all the backward and forward linkages that come with domestic production.  We will be better off in this kind of arrangement that we draft importance.  Hon. M. Nkomo, you were very passionate about supporting the sanitary wear programme. We have increased the budget and have responded. There was also a contribution on somebody on the transport sector. This was taken care of. Hon. Ganyiwa, you did make it clear that Zimbabwe is not overtaxed. We are collecting 18% of GDP. Surely, that is hardly a state of overtaxing citizens and economic agencies.

         On agriculture, again we have met the 10% target. When it comes to irrigation farming, if you could turn to page 165 of the Bluebook, you will see the list of irrigation projects that we will be funding through this budget. Hon. Chinanzvavana, you mentioned this issue of the 6% GDP growth outlook into 2025. In that, perhaps we should have allocated more funds towards infrastructure. We would love to but really we are constrained by the budget that we have.  We believe that the allocations that we have done really speak to resilience and some stick to climate shops.

         I think you also mentioned support for the women’s agenda budget, we have responded. Hon. Kangausaru we have responded. Hon. P. Machangu, again we appreciate the 6% rate of growth outlook and then the four or so new colleges which again as I said, we will consider these in terms of budget allocations. Although initially we had skipped them, but I think we have been sufficiently persuaded.

         Hon. Hlatywayo who basically was trying perhaps to argue that some of the assumptions are too optimistic, the assumptions of unstable exchange rate and so forth, that in the past we have not been able to maintain a stable exchange rate. We were doubtful that we would maintain it. I can assure you that we are always determined to maintain a stable exchange rate through prudent fiscal management, which tries to reduce possibilities of monetarisation of budget deficits and growth in money supply and then voluntary exchange rates and prices.

On the monetary front, we also work hard to maintain tight fiscal monetary policy through repositive real interest rates as well as constraints growth of money supply, including increased reserve requirements as is currently the case.  We are using the traditional tools to deal with exchange rate stability as part of this budget which would give us the stability that we need. Then  on the budget utilisation, Hon. Hlatywayo did mention that for some of the MDs we had over spent but for some of them we had under spent.  So, on average in terms of data that we have, it is 76%.  In fact, this is the highest budget expenditure we have achieved in the last few years.  So, we are pleased with this.

         Hon. Shiriyedenga, you mentioned one issue, which is the issue of resilient, that our budget does not speak to resilience because it is mainly spend on recurrent expenditure as opposed to capital expenditure. Resilience can also be attributed from expenditure point of view.  When we support the vulnerable, we are improving their resilience to whatever  income shocks that they are experiencing.  When we expend resources on the Pfumvudza/Intwasa Programme, that tool is speaking to resilience because then the recipient is successful if we have two rain seasons, we would have food secure.  At the same time when we invest now in hard infrastructure, in irrigation schemes, moving water from the dams to the fields, making sure that you insulate agriculture from poor rainfall that tool is resilience.  So, it cuts across both recurrent expenditure and capital expenditure.  Hon. Member, I hope I have persuaded the Hon. Member that he should not be too worried.  This budget is really speaking to resilience.

         Hon. Shongedza, you mentioned something on the health sector, you said we have ringfenced sugar content tax, beverages as well as fast foods tax towards the health sector.  Then Hon. Tsvangirai, who showed that the 6% growth rate was too optimistic.  We do not think so, but we always stand ready to revise figures, that is what we do for a living.  You will recall that for this year we had focused on the growth of the 3.5% and then we came to this House and said we have revised it to 2% in light of what is out there.  So, that is not an issue, we will revise it together, middle of next year.  Also, if you check in the long statement the thicker budget statement, there is a section that deals with stress testing the budget assumptions.  Where we said what will happen if growth drops by 2% or 3%.  We already take into account all those possibilities and try to understand how then that would impact revenue expenditure and what adjustments should be made.  So, you have no reason to be concerned and fearful, it will all work out.  Youth entrepreneurship neglected, no, we have a youth bank, we have a National Venture Fund, that is all meant to support our youth entrepreneurs.  I think we want to encourage you that those from your constituency, those youths should come forward, they will be supported by this institution.

         Hon. Zhou, again, you are very supportive of the budget and the borehole programme.  We will continue with that and also support for the Women’s Bank, again we have given it additional budget.  We feel that it ought to be supported.  Hon. S. Ngwenya, you are also quite happy with the budget allocation but, you also wanted certain allocations to be increased.  You said basically, we should support the pro-poor agenda and social welfare further, but I just want to highlight to Hon. S. Ngwenya that the Pfumvudza/Intwasa Programme is a social protection programme.  Whenever we try to add the budget allocated to social protection, it is always included, that is why it is called production social protection because you give inputs to a vulnerable person to produce, that is productive social protection.  Hon. Ngwenya, you are in support of the efforts we are making in civil servants’ salaries that we should do more.  We will always try to support our civil servants and I can assure you. I may not cover all of you, but I really appreciate all the input.

         Hon. Madzivanyika, there is a point that tickles me quite a bit, he said that because we have adopted IPSAS, then we should be denominating our accounts in USD.  We have not yet adopted IPSAS.  It is still an ongoing project, where we are testing.  We are building towards it.  Then in 2027, we will adopt IPSAS.  So, those issues will be considered but we are yet on IPSAS. The debt assumption on the debt from Reserve Bank did not come to Parliament.  We did, that process was approved by Parliament, I can assure you.

         Hon. Mushoriwa, on the issue of the Condonation Bill for over expenditure for the five years, since 2017.  We thought we have had progress on this and the Bills were drafted but when we came before Public Accounts Committee, our teams were told, you need to go back because every transaction for those five or so years, should be audited by the Auditor General.  That is an onerous process.  The Auditor General is still working on that issue.  I wish we could all see the need to move forward and accept what we have proposed - but again it is up to the august House to look into that.

         On smuggling, Hon. Mushoriwa, I can assure you we are dealing with smuggling.  Try to smuggle something in the next week, you will see what will happen.  We are very serious about dealing with smuggling.  We are running a blitz operation and there are no exceptions.  Then streamlining Government system, local authority systems to deal with informalities, I agree with you.

         The issue of communities benefiting from natural resources, may be Hon. Mushoriwa has forgotten, we introduced that 1% community levy on mining companies.  That 1% is going to be used to build schools and hospitals in the local communities.  I think the issue  we would like to check how well that is working.  It is my hope that we will work with the Mines and Mining Development Committee to do an analysis to see how well that is working and how better to enforce that.

         Hon. Samambwa, how we can support the cotton sector, agreed.  Hon. Sithole, that we should give everybody a budget that they requested, we do not have the money.  We only have some ZiG272 billion.  We would love to, we are not able to borrow that budget deficit, it will be a huge figure.  It will be the highest in the world, if we try to do that but I can see his desire that we must make an effort to support the various Ministries and try other ways to raise revenue.  That is appreciated. 

Then the presentation by Hon Eng. Mhangwa, thank you very much, you were very systematic in presenting on the three areas energy, transport, water sanitation, ICT and that we should not end up focusing  on water treatment plant.  We will relook at that and see what we can do.  You welcomed the deferment of VAT on energy equipment and also removal of VAT on LP gas, the EV cars incentives.  The preferred asset status for the sector, that is already in place but we feel that not enough companies are coming forward to request that PA status.  We stand ready to give it.

         Then there is an Hon. Member who talked about the budget for Parliament, I have already proposed that we increase it.  Then on the public schools, I agree with you, we will approach them and keep building schools. 

         Finally, Hon. Masvisvi, there is need to support the budget and also the implementation process.  The budget for Industry and Commerce, as I said, this year may be slightly different in the sense that we have created an industry development fund to support the plan for industrial growth coming from that Ministry. So that fund will go a long way in supporting production within the sector as you proposed.

         I, therefore, move that the motion be adopted.  I thank you – [HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear.] -

         Motion put and agreed to.

         Bill was ordered to be brought in by the Minister of Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion.

FIRST READING

FINANCE BILL [H. B. 2, 2024]

         THE MINISTER OF FINANCE, ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND INVESTMENT PROMOTION (HON. PROF. M. NCUBE) presented the Finance Bill [H. B. 2, 2024.

         Bill read the first time.

         Bill referred to the Parliamentary Legal Committee.

FIRST READING

BROADCASTING SERVICES AMENDMENT BILL [H. B. 10, 2024]

 THE MINISTER OF INFORMATION, PUBLICITY AND BROADCASTING SERVICES (HON. DR. MUSWERE) presented the Broadcasting Services Amendment Bill [H. B. 10, 2024.

Bill read the first time.

         Bill referred to the Parliamentary Legal Committee.

        On the motion of THE MINISTER OF FINANCE, ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND INVESTMENT PROMOTION (HON. PROF. M. NCUBE), the House adjourned at 0200 a.m.