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NATIONAL ASSEMBLY HANSARD 12 FEBRUARY 2025 VOL 51 No. 23

PARLIAMENT OF ZIMBABWE

Wednesday, 12^th February, 2025

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

PRAYERS

(THE ACTING SPEAKER in the Chair)

ANNOUNCEMENTS BY THE ACTING SPEAKER

ADVERSE REPORT FROM THE PARLIAMENTARY LEGAL COMMITTEE

         THE ACTING SPEAKER (HON. TSITSI ZHOU):  I have the following announcements.  I have received an adverse report from the Parliamentary Legal Committee on the following Statutory Instruments.

Statutory Instruments Numbers 177, 178, 179, 180, 181, 183, 184, 185, 186, 187 and 188 published in the Gazette during the month of November, 2024 and Statutory Instrument Numbers 189, 190, 191, 192, 193, 194, 195, 196, 197, 198, 199, 200 and 201 published in the Gazette during the month of December 2024.

PETITION FROM GERALD MATIBA

THE ACTING SPEAKER:  I also have to inform the House that on 21^st January, 2025, Parliament received a petition from Gerald Matiba, the Executive Director of Christian Legal Society of Zimbabwe, beseeching Parliament to enact a law for the provisions of State support for community caregivers and provide for mechanisms of State intervention on community care work. The petition was deemed admissible and has been referred to the Portfolio Committee on Health and Child Care.

HALF-DAY WORKSHOP ON UNPACKING OF THE STATE SERVICES PENSIONS BILL [H. B. 9, 2024]

THE ACTING SPEAKER:  I also have to inform the House that there will be a half-day workshop to unpack the State Services Pensions Bill [H. B. 9, 2024] for all Members of Parliament tomorrow, 13 February 2025 starting at 0800 hours and ending at 1230 hours in the Multipurpose Hall.  All Members of Parliament are urged to attend.

ORAL ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE.

THE ACTING SPEAKER:  We have the following Ministers in the House;

 Hon. Mhona, Minister of Transport and Infrastructural Development; Hon. Mavhunga, Minister of Veterans of the Liberation Struggle Affairs; Hon. Chitando, Minister of Mines and Mining Development; Hon. Jesaya, Deputy Minister of Sports, Recreation, Arts and Culture; Hon. Kwidini, Deputy Minister of Health and Child Care; Hon. M. Ncube, Deputy Minister of National Housing and Social Amenities; Hon. Gata, Deputy Minister of Primary and Secondary Education.

We have not received any apologies. Government Chief Whip, who is the Leader of Government Business today?

HON. TOGAREPI:  Hon. Mhona – [HON. MEMBERS: Inaudible interjections.]-

THE ACTING SPEAKER:  Order! Hon. Mhona is the Acting Leader of Government Business.  

*HON. MUTSEYAMI:  I have a point of order Madam Speaker.  Thank you Madam Speaker.  If you look at the list of Ministers that you have called out, you will see that they are very few.  We have been talking about it for a long time and it looks like these Ministers do not respect Parliament.  The letter which the Speaker said he is going to write to urge Ministers to respect Parliament to come and respond to questions should be rectified so that all Ministers come.  There are those who say they will not be feeling well on the day of questions but when it is the State of the Nation Address, they come; when it comes to the issues of Parliament, many of them are not here.  They do not respect this day.

What can we do Hon. Speaker, so that we rectify this because yes, Deputy Ministers say that they will be there but when it comes to the crunch of the matter, Deputy Ministers do not get into Cabinet? When the Minister goes out of the country, the Deputy Ministers do not take over, another Minister is appointed.  I am not belittling them.  Thank you.

*THE ACTING SPEAKER:  As you were speaking, I was given a list of Ministers who have tendered their apologies.

In the House we have the Hon. Deputy Minister of Tourism and Hospitality Industry, Hon. Tongai Mnangagwa.  We have received the following apologies – [HON. MEMBERS:  Inaudible interjections.]- Order!  Can we have order in the House? We also have in the House Hon. Mazungunye, Deputy Minister of Justice; Hon. Phuti, Deputy Minister of ICT.

APOLOGIES RECEIVED FROM MINISTERS

THE HON. ACTING SPEAKER:  We have received the following apologies: Hon. Gen.  Rtd. Dr. C. D. G. N. Chiwenga, Vice President; Hon. Rtd. K. C. D Mohadi, Vice President; Hon. Prof. Ncube, Minister of Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion; Hon. K. D. Mnangagwa, Deputy Minister of Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion; Hon. H. Moyo, Deputy Minister of the Veterans of the Liberation Struggle Affairs; Hon. J. Paradza, Deputy Minister of Environment, Climate and Wildlife; Hon. K. Coventry, Minister of Sports, Recreation, Arts and Culture; Hon. B. Rwodzi, Minister of Tourism and Hospitality Industry; Hon. O. C. Z. Muchinguri-Kashiri. Minister of Defence; Hon. L. Mayihlome, Deputy Minister of Defence; Hon. Mhlanga, Deputy Minister of Women Affairs, Community, Small and Medium Enterprises Development; Hon. B. Kabikira, Deputy Minister of Local Government and Public Works; Hon. Prof. A. Murwira, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Trade; Hon. C. Sanyatwe, Deputy Minister of Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage; Hon. O. Marupi, Deputy Minister of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services, Hon. T. A. Mavetera, Minister of Information Communication Technology, Postal and Courier Services; Hon. P. Kambamura, Deputy Minister of Mines and Mining Development; Hon. F. M. Shava, Minister of Higher and Tertiary Education, Innovation, Science and Technology Development; Hon. S. Sibanda, Deputy Minister of Higher and Tertiary Education, Innovation, Science and Technology Development; Hon. T. Moyo, Minister of Primary and Secondary Education; Hon. E. Moyo, Minister of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare; Hon. Dinha, Deputy Minister of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare; Hon. M. N. Ndlovu, Minister of Industry and Commerce; Hon. R. Modi, Deputy Minister of Industry and Commerce; Hon. Y. S. Simbanegavi, Deputy Minister of Energy and Power Development; Hon. Haritatos, Deputy Minister of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Resettlement and lastly, Hon. D. Marapira, Deputy Minister of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Resettlement.

         HON. GANYIWA:  Thank you Madam Speaker.  Let me start by thanking the almighty God for the rains we have been receiving since last year.  It seems like since October last year, when we started receiving the rains across the country, schools across the country have faced a situation where their rooftops were blown away by the winds.  This situation did not spare even the constituency I represent…

         THE ACTING SPEAKER: Hon. Ganyiwa, please proceed to direct your question to the Hon. Minister you intend to ask.

         HON. GANYIWA:  Thank you Madam Speaker.  I was trying to give…

         THE ACTING SPEAKER:  Please can you go straight to your question?

         HON. GANYIWA: The question Madam Speaker is that since these schools were affected, we did not see any assistance in terms of repairing the roof. So, we want to know what the Government is doing about that situation. What is exactly taking place?

         THE ACTING SPEAKER: Your question is directed to which ministry?

         HON. GANYIWA: Obviously, it is going to touch two ministries including the Ministry…- [HON. MEMBERS: Inaudible interjections.] - Madam Speaker, can you protect me?

         THE ACTING SPEAKER: Order, order! Can you allow Hon. Ganyiwa to be heard in silence? - [HON. MEMBERS: Inaudible interjections.]-

         HON. GANYIWA: Madam Speaker, the issue of schools falls under two ministries. So, when we are asking a question, it also goes to the Ministry of Local Government. This is because some of the schools fall under councils. Moreover, the schools are under the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education. Both of them can respond, depending on who is supposed to respond.

         THE ACTING SPEAKER: Can you go straight to the question?

         HON. GANYIWA: My question is that since last year, we have not seen any action in terms of repairing these schools. What is the Government policy regarding this issue because children are learning outside classrooms? That is my question.

         THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF PRIMARY AND SECONDARY EDUCATION (HON. GATA): Thank you Madam Speaker. I would like to thank Hon. Ganyiwa for the important question that he has asked. On disaster management in our buildings and schools, the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education would like to have quality education and this includes our buildings. So, I will start by telling him the steps that we have in disaster management because all of them are caused by …- [HON. MEMBERS: Inaudible interjections.]-

         THE ACTING SPEAKER: Order, order Hon. Members on my left! Order, order! Can we have order in the House? We want to allow the Hon. Minister to be heard in silence. Order, order!

         THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF PRIMARY AND SECONDARY EDUCATION (HON. GATA): Thank you Madam Speaker. I was saying that I would like to let the House and Hon. Ganyiwa know how we managed the disaster. This is because mostly these are caused by weather like harsh winds and cyclones that we are experiencing now. On our part as the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education, we assess the building and report because we use the whole of Government approach. We do have our emergency protocols that we use in the Ministry and then we have the civil protection unity that is under local Government that we go and report to for restoration and repair. As a Ministry, we also have a fund that we do have which is under Civil Protection that we use to repair these buildings. The first pot of call is the Local Government. That is where the issue is taken care of by the Local Government. As a Ministry, we also have a fund that is under Civil Protection that we use to repair these buildings. The first port of call is the Ministry of Local Government and that is where the issue is taken care of. So, I will say as a Ministry, we have School Improvement Grants that are in collaboration with the Government and our partners. At the moment, we are waiting for budget disbursements and then we will start looking at them but mainly, it is under Ministry of Local Government. Thank you.

         HON. GANYIWA: Thank you Madam Speaker Ma’am. I also wanted to know in preparation of the disaster response management. Is it possible for the Ministry to inform this House if there are mechanisms in terms of providing temporary structures whilst we are waiting for the long-term response or repair of these affected schools? Thank you.

         HON. GATA: Thank you Madam Speaker Ma’am. Yes, we do have emergency protocols. We have clear guidelines on how we can go about it on the emergency protocols. We have the DSIs that the school will report to and we can take temporary procedures that we can close the buildings. In the meantime, we have tents that are there at the Civil Protection Unit and this is working together with Ministry of Local Government. Thank you.

         *HON. MAKUMIRE: Thank you Madam Speaker for according me this opportunity. The Minister said there is Civil Protection Fund and she also mentioned about the grant. My question is, this disaster befell us last year when we had an operational budget. Why was it not rectified last year so that we act on this year’s disbursement? To add on, we also want the Minister to clarify and enlighten us on the relationship that they have with the Ministry of Local Government so that we know if there are any problems because they work hand-in-hand. Thank you.

         *HON. GATA: Thank you Madam Speaker. I did not get anything concerning policy on what he has said but I can articulate on the relationship that is there between the Civil Protection Unit and the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education. We work with the whole of Government approach together with the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education and the Ministry of Local Government. The Civil Protection Unit has got funds which are set aside for Disaster Risk Management and they are the ones who do the repairs.

         HON. HADEBE: Thank you Madam Speaker. The Deputy Minister is not sure of what she is talking about and she should never be allowed to continue.

         THE ACTING SPEAKER: Order, order!

         HON. GATA: Thank you very much Madam Speaker. I am sure of what I am talking about. If you have a supplementary question Hon. Hadebe, you can supplement. I will continue and say the Civil Protection Unit is the one that does restoration and repair and we work together as the whole of Government, the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education, Ministry of Local Government and Ministry of Finance. So, I would not know and Ministry of Local Government can stand up for themselves. I do not know if they have the budget at the moment but they are supposed to have that budget. Thank you.

         *HON. HUNGWE: My question is directed to the Minister of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Resettlement. We are happy for the rains that we are receiving. I want to ask as to what is Government policy  to make sure that the imports, especially fertilizers reach the intended beneficiaries in time? –[AN HON. MEMBER: Inaudible interjection.]-

         THE HON. SPEAKER:  Order! Can you respect the questioner and there is no need for any comments when an Hon. Member has asked a question. If you have got any issue, you can ask a supplementary question.

         *THE MINISTER OF TRANSPORT AND INFRASTRUCTURAL DEVELOPMENT (HON.  MHONA): Thank you Hon. Speaker Sir. I want to thank Hon. Hungwe for asking a pertinent question. We thank the almighty God for good rains which we are receiving as a country and we are expecting a bumper harvest this year. I also want to say that at the opening of the Cabinet, the issue of distribution of fertilizers is one of the things which was discussed. We had faced some delays in securing Ammonium Nitrate fertilizer. I want to take this opportunity to notify the whole country that we had lack of Ammonium Nitrate fertilizer but right now, we have the Ammonium Nitrate in stock.

We expect the distribution of the fertilizer to go on and it will help in alleviating lack of nutrients in our plants. The Minister of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Resettlement notified the country that we have enough fertilizer for all farmers. Thank you.

         THE HON. SPEAKER: I do not see any request for a supplementary question.

         HON. V. MOYO: Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir. My question goes to the Ministry of Health and Child Welfare. What are the policy plans that Government has put in place to alleviate the impact that has been created by the sudden withdrawal of US funding of our health delivery system especially in the fight against HIV and AIDS? Thank you.

         THE HON. SPEAKER: Your microphone is on, what is the point of order Hon. Zhou? 

         HON. TAFANANA ZHOU: Thank you very much Mr. Speaker Sir. May the Hon. Member clarify if it is the Minister of Child Care or Minister of Child Welfare? You said Child Welfare.

         THE HON. SPEAKER: Thank you Hon. Zhou. I think the Hon. Member has taken note.  Can you proceed with your question please?

HON. V. MOYO: I have finished Mr. Speaker.

THE HON. SPEAKER: Order! You are not on the Chair, my attention was distracted by points of order, so I need to follow the question properly and do not tell me kuti apedza. Thank you.

*HON. V. MOYO: Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir. What policy plans has the Government put in place to alleviate the impact that has been created by the sudden withdrawal of US funding in our health service delivery system, especially in the fight against the HIV pandemic?

THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF HEALTH AND CHILD CARE (HON. KWIDINI): Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir.  I want to thank the Hon. Member for the question he has raised.  Yes, there might indeed be an impact on the withdrawal of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) from World Health Organisation (WHO) but what I want the Hon. Member to be aware of is the policy. When the policy is formulated, it is not wholly dependent on other stakeholders which we may collaborate with actually on how to make up the living of our people.

Nevertheless, the issue is now at the Ministry and the Government at large because we had an agreement and collaboration with these other stakeholders who have withdrawn the support they were giving us. It is now the mandate of the Ministry and the Government to make sure that these programmes which were withdrawn from the Ministry are now wholly owned by the Ministry such that we can cover the gap that has been left by the people who were funding us.

In terms of issues of HIV and AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis, these were wholly Government programmes. We then had stakeholders who came in to fund those programmes. So as we speak right now, our technocrats are making sure that we cover the gap which has been left out by these programme implementers because these came in to feed into our policies as a nation. However, now as policymakers and as we speak right now, as I said earlier on, the Ministry technocrats are in the process of finding out how best we can come up with solutions possible, especially in budgeting and also human capital which was affected by these funds which have been withdrawn.  Basically, the policy is already there and was existing but what has been withdrawn is the support which we were receiving from the funders.  I thank you.

*HON. MHETU: My supplementary is, when are nurses coming and when are condoms and ARVs going to be distributed? We were mocked in the constituencies, especially from my area, there are so many queues there because (USAID) withdrew the services of their nurses.  Before the condoms and ARVs finish, we want to know when those drugs are going to be distributed?

THE HON. SPEAKER: Order, order! The Hon. Minister’s response was quite explicit to the extent that it is work in progress to close the gap resulting from the withdrawal of the funding and that will include those medical devices that the people so affected require will be addressed through that task force that has been formed by the Minister.  I thank you.

         HON. MATAMBO: Thank you, Mr. Speaker Sir…

         THE HON. SPEAKER: Order! I did not recognise you, you are so far away Hon. Matambo.

*HON. MATAMBO: Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir. I also want to thank the Minister for responding that we have been receiving assistance from other countries. I also want to take this opportunity to thank those who were giving us aid when Zimbabwe was amid sanctions. I am thankful that we were receiving aid from America despite being under sanctions. Thank you – [HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear]-.

THE HON. SPEAKER: Order! Order! I respect Hon Members. The statement is not a supplementary question, please follow your Standing Orders accordingly.

*HON. MABURUTSE: Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir. My question is directed to the Minister of Transport and Infrastructural Development. We thank you for the refurbishment of the Harare- Beitbridge Highway. We are facing a challenge Minister, I do not know what Government policy we have concerning the spaces that cannot be refurbished between Masvingo and Rutenga. That part of the road has deteriorated. We hear that the Ministry has passed Harare and it is now focusing on Chirundu. What about the patches and places that had not been refurbished Minister? Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir.

THE HON. SPEAKER: I get worried because today we ask for policy questions. What you have asked Hon. Maburutse is a specific issue, unless your question had been - what is Government policy in terms of incomplete road works? Something like that but when -– [HON. MEMBERS: Inaudible interjections.] – I do not need your assistance but because you were particular about the specific areas, this question can be asked by way of a written question and then the Hon. Minister will be able to answer accordingly. 

*HON. MABURUTSE: Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir, I was giving as an example but my question is exactly what you have said Mr. Speaker Sir. That is what I really wanted to say. Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir.

THE HON. SPEAKER: Order! Can you ask a written question for next week, alright?

*HON. MABURUTSE: Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir.

         *HON. CHINODAKUFA: Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir. My question is directed to the Minister of Veterans of the Liberation Struggle. What is Government Policy with regards to uplifting the lives of those who fought during the liberation struggle or make their lives comfortable?

         *THE MINISTER OF VETERANS OF THE LIBERATION STRUGGLE AFFAIRS (HON. SEN. M. MAVHUNGA): Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir. I also want to thank Hon. Chinodakufa for asking a pertinent question. I want to start my response by citing the Constitution where it clearly states that Government must come up with ways of crafting laws which makes sure that the livelihoods of war veterans are uplifted. We managed to come up with the War Veterans Liberation Struggle Act in order to make sure that the work of uplifting the livelihoods of war veterans is put in motion.

         Right now, the war veterans are being helped in terms of health, school fees for their children are being paid for, all those who have lost their lives have been buried properly and also benefit economically. Hence, there was a fund which was created through that Act, the War Veterans Fund. We also have projects which were started by the Government to the veteran’s investment corporation to make sure that the corporation comes up with projects and that money benefit them. Furthermore, the Government is trying by all means to make sure that all veterans benefit and live properly in their respective areas.

         HON. GUMBO: As the Minister has rightfully stated, Section 84 of the Constitution of Zimbabwe stipulates that veterans of the liberation struggle must be given due recognition. That means that even the issues that are in the public domain must be given due recognition in terms of the Constitution of Zimbabwe. Recently we have heard unsettling sentiments which have been passed by the liberation war veterans regarding the state of affairs in this country, the state of citizens livelihoods in this country and they have made a call.

         THE HON. SPEAKER: Can you ask your question as a supplementary question? Please proceed.

         HON. GUMBO: Following the sentiments passed by the war veterans in the public domain, what is the Ministry doing to ensure that these war veterans are given an ear, recognised and that their issues are addressed accordingly, particularly where they are calling for resignation of certain senior officers of the Government?

         THE HON. SPEAKER: Order, order! Calling of some resignation of certain members has nothing to do with the welfare of the war veterans.

         HON. TOGAREPI: I think the Hon. Member has brought politics to this House because – [HON MEMBERS: Inaudible interjections.] - The issue of war veterans was raised but when you go to the extent of political machinations…

         THE HON. SPEAKER: Thank you. That is why I ruled the Hon. Member out of order.

         *HON. MATSUNGA: My supplementary to the Minister of Veterans of the Liberation Struggle is; there are challenges in trying to uplift the lives of those who fought the war and their children. Sometime ago in this House, it was suggested that we should come up with a database because you find that people like me who were born in 1979 are saying they are war veterans. So, we want the Minister to come back with a database because you find that us grandchildren of war veterans, were also benefiting claiming that we are war veterans. We want documentation which shows that these are war collaborators and these are war veterans.

         *HON. SEN. MAVHUNGA: What I can say is that it was our initial plan that when we started vetting, the database is there because they have been vetted and they are classified as war veterans but coming to the group that were registered in August, it is there so that we verify and screen in order to come up with a clean record. What has come up through our investigations is that some who were very young during the struggle are the ones who were being sent as spies because the whites would not suspect them to be war collaborators. So, after that, we will bring the database.

         *HON. MAPIKI: My supplementary question is, the Minister articulated that the database for war collaborators is now complete following the vetting exercise. What is Government policy with regards to war collaborators who were vetted so that they could also benefit?

         *THE MINISTER OF  VETERANS OF THE LIBERATION STRUGGLE AFFAIRS (HON. SEN. MAVHUNGA):  Thank you Mr. Speaker, with reference to our Constitution and the War Veterans Act, there are four categories; i) war veterans; (ii) ex-political prisoners, detainees and restrictees; (iii) non-combatant cadres and (iv) war collaborators.  I alluded to the fact that the Constitution says we should come up with sustainable laws to assist those who will have been vetted.  I thank you.

+HON. S. MAHLANGU:  Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir.  My supplementary question is a follow up on the projects that the Minister said are being done for the war veterans.  Can the Minister let us know the projects being done for the war veterans?

THE HON. SPEAKER:  That now is a specific question.  If you could put your question in writing for next week, it will give the Minister ample time to bring the required data.

         HON. MARIKANO:  Thank you Hon Speaker Sir.  My question is directed to the Minister of Finance.  I would like to seek clarification on the disbursement of the CDF for the year 2024.  I thank you.

         THE MINISTER OF TRANSPORT AND INFRASTRUCTURAL DEVELOPMENT (HON. MHONA):  Mr. Speaker Sir, let me also thank Hon. Marikano for that very important question which is very emotional, especially to this august House.  With your indulgence Hon. Speaker Sir, working closely with Parliament, if you may kindly allow me to follow through after this session so that we hear when precisely the fund is going to be disbursed.  I thank you.

         THE HON. SPEAKER:  Thank you Acting Leader of Government Business, Hon. Mhona.  Please proceed with your suggestion so we can have the response next week.

         *HON. NYAKUEDZWA:  Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir.  This year we received good rains and our crops are doing very well but on the other hand, the rains caused massive destruction of roads especially in the rural areas.  My question is directed to the Minister of Transport and I would like to know, what is Government policy in terms of rehabilitation of roads destroyed by the rains?

         THE MINISTER OF TRANSPORT AND INFRASTRUCTURAL DEVELOPMENT (HON. MHONA):  Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir.  I also want to thank Hon. Nyakuedzwa for asking that pertinent question.  It is true and those who listened to the President’s speech during the official opening of Cabinet, he mentioned that he is very happy with the goods rains.  However, the excessive rains though good, did damage roads and other infrastructure.  We do have a department that works on rehabilitating all the damaged infrastructure.  There is a programme called Road Rehabilitation 2 which started in February and it ensures a lot of refurbishment of roads and it will stretch into 2026.  This means we will now go to the Minister of Finance to request for a budget for the refurbishment of those destroyed roads.  As a Ministry, we are not just waiting for the Ministry of Finance but we are also working with other partners from programmes such as PPP where we will refurbish roads from rural areas and towns.  Rural roads are under DDF, which is now RIDA.  We are not ending there but we are going to work together as a Ministry with Local Government, which is responsible for monitoring the disasters that will have befallen us as a country.  We should also understand that all of us considering the problems we are facing, all ministries are expecting money from the Ministry of Finance but I am also expecting you as MPs to understand that we are not going to do this swiftly since all ministries are waiting for money from Ministry of Finance.

         *HON. TAFANANA ZHOU: I want to start by thanking the Minister for a detailed response. Hon. Speaker Sir, we also have other infrastructure which was destroyed by natural disasters like rains which have reached eight years without being refurbished.  We have bridges in different constituencies but there is no traction in that area.  What is Government policy in terms of ensuring that the destroyed infrastructure is refurbished?

HON. MHONA:  I also want to thank Hon Zhou for that important question.  Yes, we do acknowledge that we had many cyclones and we are not focusing on Cyclone Idai only.  We had Cyclone Eline which destroyed many buildings and they are yet to be refurbished.  I know Hon. Zhou is speaking to Jeka Bridge in his constituency which is of great concern to him.  We know that the bridge has not been renovated for the past eight years and I promise that as a Ministry, we will move from one province to another working together with RDCs and RIDA to rehabilitate that infrastructure.  I also plead with this august House that when we are looking for money for refurbishment of infrastructure, it is pertinent for us to put that expense in our Blue Book so that it becomes easier for the Ministry to allocate a budget to such infrastructure.  I thank you.

*HON. MASHONGANYIKA:  I want to thank the Minister of Transport for good responses. I want to get clarification because we once talked about coming up with easy bridges called mirato and we find that those kinds of bridges, the mirato, are not being constructed. School children are finding it difficult to cross some bridges, we would want to find out progress on policy issues with regards to those low-cost bridges.

*HON. MHONA: Yes, it is very true that some of our children cannot cross rivers because of rains but I want to inform this House that the Ministry of Transport has the Department of Roads which looks after the roads but it is not the only department which looks at roads. If we go to the rural areas, we find that we have the Rural District Council which has engineers and also RIDA has engineers who look at roads.

Looking at the question that has been posed by the Hon. Member, you find that as Members of Parliament and Councillors for those areas, we should come together to see how we can construct these low-cost bridges, whether money should come from the Government coffers or other means. As a Ministry, probably we may not be aware of those places but you can alert us so that we do a feasibility study before you construct the bridges so that we see whether it is possible that we come up with those low-cost bridges.

I once said that every province has a Road Province Engineer. Before you come to this House, you should look for that engineer to assess whether there is any potential danger if that low-cost bridge has been constructed.

+HON. M. C. SIBANDA:  Thank you for the opportunity that you have given me. A report was made here from the Minister of Transport with regards to the road from Victoria Falls to Bulawayo saying there are contractors who should build that road. How long are they going to take in the construction of that road?

+THE HON. SPEAKER:  Your question is not clear. You need to put it in writing so that you get your response next week.

HON. CHIDUWA: My question is directed to the Minister of Information Communication Technology, Postal and Courier Services. What is Government policy towards achieving consistent and reliable mobile network connectivity in the country as part of promoting financial...?

Hon. Deputy Minister of Information Communication Technology, Postal and Courier Services having been whispering to the Hon. Minister of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare.  

THE HON. SPEAKER: Order. Minister of Information, the question is directed to you. I think you are slightly distracted. If you can listen. Can you repeat your question? I could see the Hon. Minister was having some little tete-a-tete with his colleague.

HON. CHIDUWA:  What is Government policy towards achieving 100% consistent and reliable mobile network connectivity in the country as part of promoting financial inclusion?

THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF INFORMATION COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY, POSTAL AND COURIER SERVICES (HON. PHUTI): Let me thank the Hon. Chiduwa for a very good question which relates to the issue of financial inclusion as enabled by robust ICT or rather, connectivity across the country. The Government has got a deliberate programme to deploy base stations in the peripheral areas of the country.

I am aware that my colleagues here in the House may have seen such deployments of towers in border areas. Also, Government through the Universal Service Fund, ensures that there are base stations deployed across the country in underserved and unserved areas. The Universal Service Fund has so far ensured deployment of 14 base stations through a project that seeks to redeploy towers from co-located areas to areas that are not covered.

Government embraced also an infrastructure sharing programme which allows for all players, mostly mobile network operators, to share and converge in a single infrastructure for the purposes of consumers and satisfaction of service. Mr. Speaker Sir, just for record, let me share that His Excellency, the President of Zimbabwe, Dr. Emmerson Mnangagwa, last year in December, launched 276 base stations by a single mobile network operator through a programme known as Mobile Broadband Phase 3, through which he ensured funding himself in 2022. Also, the 40 base stations that I made mention of earlier were done by the same mobile network operator and are 5G network deployment.

The last, the 14 USF funded ones; let me conclude by mentioning the coming into the game of the new kid on the block, the Low Earth Orbit Satellite Network that ensured some relief in virtually underserved areas where we have seen other players having been licenced a few months ago to the relief of many. All these converge to make meaning the efficiency that our people can enjoy in the space of financial inclusion, as financial inclusion itself is pivoted on an efficient and robust network deployment.

HON. CHIDUWA: We have noted that there are some mobile network operators who sometimes say they cannot deploy base stations in areas they deem to be uneconomic. I want to find out, what is the position of the Government to service those areas that are deemed uneconomic by mobile operators?

HON. PHUTI:  Thank you, Mr. Speaker Sir. It is basic business sense that one cannot deploy where there is no economic benefit.  The purpose of which there is Universal Service Fund administered through the Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe, which seeks to close in the gaps where the issue of making economic sense would have been observed by mobile network operators.

Let me repeat to say because some mobile network operators will deliberately not want to invest in areas that do not make economic sense to them, therefore, the fund seeks to deploy a bandwidth or networks to those places that have been shunned for that reason. If need be, I can give you an example of one place in the country which suffered that black spot status for many years because it falls in between two districts and two provinces and a conservancy or a game area and that is a place that falls in between Masvingo and Matabeleland South, Chiredzi and Beitbridge, it is called Chikwalakwala.

Because of the Universal Service Fund, Chikwalakwala today enjoys network provided through the fund for purposes of identifying those areas that will be shunned by mobile network operators for not making economic sense. I thank you Mr. Speaker Sir.

*HON. TAFANANA ZHOU:  Thank you Mr. Speaker.  My supplementary question to the Hon. Minister.  Hon. Speaker, there is a policy in place which has been put by Government that these network providers should share infrastructure but you find that in some areas, there is only one network provider, like we only have NetOne and Econet will not be there. What plans do you have so that those service providers can share the infrastructure?

HON. PHUTI:  Thank you Hon. Zhou for a good question.  The policy of infrastructure sharing was not taken wholly upon proposal.

There are other operators who felt like they had invested more than others.  Ordinarily, they thought that this policy was to benefit other players at their expense.  However, I am happy to report to this august House that with time, this policy was embraced by all operators and the pace at which the infrastructure sharing project has been up taken is very pleasing. I am aware that there are some places where other operators would have a tower and others would take time to go there and install their active equipment.

At the moment, it is a question of choice. It is not good policy to force operators without understanding their economic status or meaning to say they should deploy wherever there are towers. We have three mobile network operators in the country and they are not the same in terms of their share of the market.

However, I want to assure you Honourable, through you Mr. Speaker Sir, that the programme has been gaining a lot of traction and we have seen the operators working cordially together and inviting each other and sharing expenses in terms of energy, in terms of every other security and other necessary issues regarding the existence of a tower. So, I want to assure this august House that the policy was taken up very well and the pace at which it is being implemented is so far very pleasing.  It gives me hope that wherever there is no deployment yet by other MNOs to where others have their base stations, something will happen very soon.  I thank you, Mr. Speaker Sir.

HON. ENG. MHANGWA:  Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir. Thank you to the Hon. Minister for the detailed response to one dimension of universal access and connectivity.

The second dimension that I want to ask the Hon. Minister is, even those that are connected, there is still the challenge of cost. The cost is still exorbitant in terms of our data, in terms of our call-rate.  The second thing is elsewhere in the world, if you have had bulk purchase of data, you are allowed after the 30 days of fair use, a grace period of another 30 to 60 days, which is not the case currently.

What is being done by Government to allow that the operators are fair to the users? I so submit.

HON. PHUTI:  Thank you, Mr Speaker Sir.  Thank you Honourable for the question.

Mr. Speaker Sir, it is unethical for operators to behave as such. Let me hasten to point out that the existence of the regulator is to plug out such vices in the operations of our operators.  I have not received anything so far with regard to such tendencies but it is something that we have heard in our multi-stakeholder engagements through other consumer watchdogs and other service providers. Let me take note of it and take it up with the regulator and have us open our eyes wider to ensure that it does not happen. It is robbery to unsuspecting consumers and it is not to be allowed in this Government and through such a delicate space as the space of data and bandwidth.

You have not provided a specific instance in which such issues happened but this suffices to say we will then engage the regulator to look closely at how these issues are being administered. Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir.

THE HON. SPEAKER:  Thank you very much Hon. Minister.  We have had enough supplementary questions. 

*HON. MAMBIPIRI:  Thank you Mr. Speaker. My question is directed to the Minister of Primary and Secondary Education. We are hearing from the school children, teachers and the media that we have a new curriculum which is called Heritage-Based Curriculum.

My question is, what is the Government policy towards helping  the teachers to adapt to the new heritage curriculum? Thank you.

*THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF PRIMARY AND SECONDARY EDUCATION (HON. GATA):  Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Allow me to thank Hon. Mambipiri for his question.

Firstly, I would like to say we have what we call Heritage-Based Curriculum. It starts from ECD (A) up to Form Six. It is a curriculum which is directly related to Continuous Assessment Learning Activities (CALA). What we are saying is we are doing a teacher development capacity so that we help all our teachers to be trained so that they know about the Heritage-Based Curriculum.

We are working within a framework which we have sent to all the teachers and every school has it. They are going for capacitation in groups so that they know.  We are only left with one province, which is Matabeleland South which will take place on the 17^th February.   The teacher development programmes have taken place in all the other provinces.  I thank you.

*MR. MAMBIPIRI:  Thank you Mr. Speaker. Thank you Minister for your answer.  My question is, were these trainings not supposed to take place before we introduced the new curriculum instead of introducing when others have started learning from January, February but you are saying they are teachers who have not been inducted.  Thank you.

*THE HON. SPEAKER:  What is introduce?  I told you to respect our mother tongue.

*HON. MAMBIPIRI:  To introduce means kuparura.

*THE HON. SPEAKER:  That is very correct.

*THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF PRIMARY AND SECONDARY EDUCATION (HON. GATA):  Thank you Mr. Speaker.  It is very true that there are teachers that are trained right now, it is a teacher redevelopment training.  They have long started.  When we introduced the Heritage-Based Curriculum last year, they were going…

*THE HON. SPEAKER:  Let us use our vernacular.

*HON. GATA:  Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir.  What we are doing is a revision but teachers continue to go and be trained on how Heritage-Based Curriculum works.  That is what I have said that they are going for continuous training but if there are any specific areas where this is not happening, you can tell us so that we go and investigate.  Thank you.

*HON. MANDIWANZIRA:  Thank you Mr. Speaker. I want to thank the Minister for the way she has answered that teachers should be retrained on how to be able to teach. 

My question is directed to sports in schools. You find that if it is a soccer match, children are being trained by a male teacher who has not been trained on how to train children but you find that we have seasoned sportsmen who played even for big teams and they are now living paupers` lives.  They can be employed in schools so that they can train children instead of just assuming that every teacher is able to train a soccer team or netball.  So, my question is, is it Government policy when it comes to training teachers? Thank you.

*THE HON. SPEAKER:  Hon. Mandiwanzira, the first question was not referring to sports, so your question is out of order.

HON. SHIRIYEDENGA:  Thank you Mr. Speaker and I would like to thank the Minister for her response.  I wanted to check, in terms of the teaching and learning materials, we have noted that schools have opened for over three weeks now but there are no prescribed textbooks with regards to the Heritage-Based Curriculum.  My question therefore is, what arrangements are there within the Ministry to ensure that the schools have the requisite textbooks to execute the new curriculum?  I thank you.

HON. GATA:  The textbooks that we were using for the curriculum, CALA, the information that is there does not go stale.  It is the same.  We are picking up from it.  We have just enhanced the CALA to make it Heritage-Based Curriculum.  So you will find that the textbooks that we have already are not offline but we are making efforts.

Textbooks are already there.  They might not be in all schools as we speak but they are there because it is a process but if you have any particular school that you would like to request for textbooks, please would you kindly put it in writing and bring it to the Ministry?  Thank you.

HON. MADZIVANYIKA:  My supplementary question goes to the Hon. Minister.  I want to ask if she can confirm in this House that the textbooks that are being used in the new Heritage-Based Curriculum are the same textbooks that have been used before.  It is very important Hon. Speaker Sir because we have received various complaints from parents asking to buy new textbooks.  Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir.

HON. GATA:  Thank you very much.  I can confirm that the information does not go stale.  The textbooks that we were using before and the new textbooks, it is the same knowledge, it is the same education.  It has been enhanced.  Those textbooks can still be used but with additional information.  I can confirm that we can still use them.  Information does not go stale.

HON. MADZIVANYIKA:  On a point of order.

THE HON. SPEAKER:  A point of clarity?  You want to ask the question through the back door?

HON. MADZIVANYIKA:  No, not at this time.

THE HON. SPEAKER:  No, if you are not clear, can you put your question in writing for next week?  

HON. MADZIVANYIKA:  I thought the Hon. Minister did not answer the question as he asked it.

THE HON. SPEAKER:  I have instructed, can you put your question in writing so that the Hon. Minister can give a more detailed response accordingly?

HON. L. DHLIWAYO:  Thank you Madam Speaker. Two of the major threats to economic stability have been smuggling and illicit financial flows.  I want to applaud the Minister of Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion, Minister of Industry and Commerce, ZIMRA and other stakeholders for the stance that they have taken, especially against smuggling through heavy handed anti-smuggling campaigns.  

However, some business owners are worried that inasmuch as the revenue administrator is enhancing compliance,  some shops, especially the SMEs are closing.  What is the Government doing to try and balance enhancing compliance and survival of small firms? This question is directed to either the Minister of Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion or the Minister of Industry and Commerce if he is there.

         THE MINISTER OF WOMEN’S AFFAIRS, COMMUNITY, SMALL AND MEDIUM ENTERPRISES DEVELOPMENT (HON. SEN. M. MUTSVANGWA): Thank you Madam Speaker. I would like to thank Hon. Dhliwayo for such a good question. The issue of compliance is very critical. We have seen that in this country, the macro, small and medium enterprises play a very important role; the key role in terms of job creation, putting money on the table, sending children to school and bringing on the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the country. The issue of compliance is what we are concerned about.

We need a service from the macro, small and medium enterprises. When I talk of providing service, once you provide a service, in this particular case, the Government is trying what it can do to provide workspace. This is because once you provide workspace, what that means is that the macro, small and medium enterprises have a permanent address. The Ministry of Finance can collect taxes. We are imploring the local authorities to provide land to SMEs so that at least they can build their SMEs state-of-the-art shopping malls. We want our SMEs to be selling whatever wares they have in a decent workspace…

         HON. MADZIVANYIKA: Point of order Madam Speaker Ma’am. I think the question was about maintaining a balance between productivity and compliance. I am sure the Hon. Minister should dwell on that area because the Hon. Member was worried about the excessive compliance you get from the people.

         THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER (HON. TSITSI ZHOU): Order, Hon. Madzivanyika. Can you allow the Hon. Minister to respond? - [HON. MEMBERS: Inaudible interjections.] Order. Hon. Minister, please can you proceed? Can we have order in the House?

         HON. SEN. M. MUTSVANGWA: Thank you Madam Speaker. Let me proceed, I was getting to exactly what he is talking about. The issue of compliance, we are talking about the SMEs meeting their statutory requirements. That is paying taxes, levies and making sure that they are registered. As the Government, what we are doing to make sure that happens is to provide workspace for our SMEs, provide digital money so that at least money will circulate within the banks, provide POS machines so that most of our people can buy using swipe. This is what we are talking about. It is providing service so that the SMEs can comply. They are ready to comply and the SMEs in this country are very well organised. They have structures from the top to the bottom. When we talk of SMEs in this country, remember the medium enterprises in this country, we are talking about a company that has got 70 workers and below.

We all know that there are so many companies in this country that are doing so well for the economy of this country which are called SMEs. I hope that when we talk about compliance, we are aware of the fact that several companies are already complying and are paying their statutory requirements but what we call those vendors is a question of registering them and as a Ministry, we are registering all those which are vendors, traders so that they can comply. So, the issue of compliance is the issue we are concerned about. Thank you.

HON. DHLIWAYO: Thank you Madam Speaker Ma’am.  I would want to thank the Hon. Minister for the response that she has given.  I want to understand whether there is going to be an engagement between her Ministry, the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Industry and Commerce maybe to try and balance the instrument that they are using, especially on the anti-smuggling campaign so that there is a balance between enforcement and SME survival?  Thank you – [HON. ENG. MHANGWA: Inaudible interjection.] -

         THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: Order Hon. Mhangwa! Remember we are in the august House and please behave.

         HON. SEN. M. MUTSVANGWA:  Thank you Madam Speaker and I want to thank Hon. Dhliwayo for that.  I hope he was trying to clarify his question.  I do not know the balance that he is talking about, maybe I did not hear properly but there has to be a balance.  You cannot be chasing after SMEs for tax without providing them a service, even the SMEs Act speaks to the fact of providing workspace.  I want to tell Hon. Members that where the Government has worked hard with other authorities who have been partnering with us, we build very good SME shopping malls where we see our SMEs working so well, abiding by the laws of the local authority and paying their Statutory requirements like tax, levies and all that.

         So, we have to balance.  It is not about chasing them.  We also do not want people to be selling all over the place.  We have to be concerned about our health issues.  These are the issues we work on together with the Ministry of Health, Local Government and National Housing.  As we are working at Mbare Musika, you have seen what is happening there.  The Government is making sure that we develop that place.  We want to have an upmarket where we can have all our traders working in a decent place and at the same time where they can be able to bank.  The new market which has been built at Mbare does have banking services so that at least traders can bank and money can circulate.

         The idea is to make sure it is not to demonise the SMEs or mothers and young people who are putting food on the table but to make sure that we provide that service.  That is what I am talking about.  That could balance.  Of course, enforcement is very important because we also need the tax revenue.  This is the money that we want to use to develop this country to achieve Vision 2030.  So, there is a balance.  You provide service and the SMEs will then pay the levies and the revenue which the Ministry of Finance requires a lot.  Thank you.

         *HON. MADZIVANYIKA: My supplementary question Madam Speaker is that the SMEs that we have face a lot of challenges in trying to import their wares.  Most of them are compliant.  They have the papers but when they are coming from the borders, they are stopped 10 times being asked for money and when they do not have, they are told to go back.  Minister, can you please help us to solve these issues so that our people will work freely? 

         *HON. MAKUMIRE: My point of order is as Hon. Members, we represent the people who elected us with all the problems that they face and these people cannot come here at Parliament…

         THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: Order Hon. Makumire! What is your point of order? Can you take your seat?

         HON. PINDUKA: Thank you Madam Speaker Ma’am. My question is directed to the Ministry of Information Communication Technology, Postal and Courier Services. In the context of leaving no one and no place behind as put forth by His Excellency, President Dr. E. D. Mnangagwa…

         THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: Please note that the microphones are not working properly and we need to allow the Hon. Member to be heard in silence. The Hon. Minister needs to pay attention to the questions. So, can we have order?

         HON. PINDUKA: Thank you Madam Speaker Ma’am. My question is directed to the Minister of Information Communication Technology, Postal and Courier Services. In the context of leaving no one and no place behind as put forth by His Excellency, Dr. E. D. Mnangagwa; what is Government policy and strategy that the Government is taking in narrowing down and reducing the gap between rural and urban schools with regards to information communication technology infrastructure provision so that most rural schools catch up with their urban counterparts and as well, connect with the rest of the world? Thank you.

         THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF INFORMATION COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY, POSTAL AND COURIER SERVICES (HON. PHUTI): Thank you Madam Speaker Ma’am and thank you Hon. Pinduka for that important question. The Ministry of ICT, Postal and Courier Services and the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education in 2021, worked together and had Cabinet approve what was known as e-learning strategy, which is still running under the NDS 1. In e-learning studies, the two ministries worked together in ensuring deployment of ICT gadgets as well as provision of bandwidth and the other being the implementors.

         In this strategy, the two ministries have seen deployment of ICT gadgets deliberately focusing on the rural schools. In this strategy, Government, through the able leadership of His Excellency, President E. D. Mnangagwa, directed that the universal service fund be used to assist in the deployment of bandwidth to assist schools access connectivity. This project saw a robust deployment of bandwidth to many schools, most of which were rural schools free of charge for a period of one year. Thereafter, the schools would then engage with designated service providers to carry on with subscriptions.

         Let me also highlight that the Ministry of ICT, Postal and Courier Services today has developed a paper through which they seek to engage the Ministry of Energy and Power Development, the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education to come together to agree on a strategy that seeks to mandate the other two ministries to see to it that;

• the Ministry of Energy and Power Development ensures electricity connections in all schools in Zimbabwe because this affects mostly the rural schools.
• that the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education should take over the responsibility of educating our facilitators throughout the country on the importance of internet and computer learning and teaching.

         We have seen deployment of gadgets and we have seen thieves following half of those gadgets to steal very easily. In most cases, those gadgets will not be even in the strong room. This tells us as a Ministry, that there is no adequate information, knowledge and value attached by other players in the importance of a computer today and digital literacy in this world.

         Madam Speaker, let me conclude by highlighting that we seek to propose to the other Ministry of Higher and Tertiary Education and the others on the Skills Audit to make sure that it becomes a Government position that there be a deliberate approach, plans and sustanance to churn out teachers or educators who have special balance in the area of ICT teaching.

Most of these gadgets are provided to schools’ bandwidth and everything connectivity. In some and most of these schools, especially in rural areas, there is no deployment of qualified personnel to teach that specialised area. I submit.

HON. PINDUKA: Thank you Madam Speaker Ma’am. My follow up question is on how the Ministry of Information Communication Technology, Postal and Courier Services, working with other Ministries, intends to strike a balance between traditional connectivity methods by face to face, verbal and written connectivity which are under threat of diminishing as a result of modern technological connectivity methods in the country in the spirit of preserving our national heritage and cultural heritage as well? Thank you.

HON. PHUTI: Thank you Madam Speaker Ma’am. Technology in its nature is changing every time and I want to highlight the importance of the Hon. Member’s observation that some technologies may have been overtaken by modern tendencies. Let me give an example of the modern satellite network that is provided as juxtaposed with the VISTA Technology. VISTA Technology has lost its latitude, yet the emerging technology of the satellite network provision has taken the course of leadership in that regard.

I hear him to be saying we should look at alternative methods of providing sustainable bandwidth that replaces antiquated methods providing bandwidth. This means replacement of strong reliance on mobile network providers and probably embrace fibre as well as embracing satellite technology as well as embracing what are could community networks.

I want to highlight to you Madam Speaker Ma’am, that working with the Internet Society of Zimbabwe, we are piloting on creating some community networks that will ease the cost of bandwidth and assist other providers in deployment of that necessary requirement, the bandwidth for purposes of sustaining efficiency in e-learning. I thank you Madam Speaker Ma’am.

         HON. KARENYI-KORE: Thank you Madam Speaker. My follow-up question to the Minister is, yes, as much as we want to enhance our rural learners, do they have a budget in terms of data? Most of the schools would want to enhance technology but in terms of funding, it is very expensive for parents even for the schools to have WIFI at their schools. Do they have a budget to make sure that these schools are also equipped with data? Thank you.

         HON. PHUTI: Thank you Madam Speaker. I want to thank the Hon. Member for the question which makes a very good observation as well. If there is no deliberate approach to dedicate a particular budget or fund towards the internet for learning, I think it is the speed at which this very inadvertent technology will be embraced with the very sloth. In that regard, let me share with you my earlier submission to say, we would want to work with the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education to the extent of saying that we want them to mandate or direct their schools to possibly dedicate some level of seriousness or a levy towards paying for data or subscriptions to the service providers. What seems to be lacking in areas that were connected before and were disconnected, is the fact that schools never made it a priority to make a follow-up and pay up subscriptions after the free time period lapsed.

         Let me also share that the Hon. Member seems to be proposing that perhaps this noble august House may come up with a proposal to the Ministry to dedicate a fund that is directed towards the internet because truth be told, there is no possibility of averting internet today. Dictates of the IPU and all other agencies related to the growth of the economy through ICT have come up with conclusions, that there should be a robust programme of internet appreciation and use for sustainable development. I want to thank the Hon. Member for that question which helps us clarify the need to have the Ministry of ICT assisted by its sister ministries in calculating the importance of bandwidth,  internet  and  digital literacy of computers. I thank you Madam Speaker.

*HON. MUWODZERI: Thank you Madam Speaker. My question is directed to the Minister of Finance together with the department of ZIMRA. I want to know if the money we pay taxes from ZIMRA is all the money that passes through the bank or if they see me spending a lot of money maybe it is cash, as ZIMRA, do they follow up to see where I am getting this money since I will be spending a lot of money?         

THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: Order! The Leader of Government Business is kindly requesting the Hon. Member to repeat the question.

         HON. MUWODZERI: My question is directed to the Minister of Finance and ZIMRA.  If I am remitting my tax, am I remitting tax that comes through the bank only or is it the only way to manage if my business has made a certain profit?  If I am giving out cash if I want to give $150 000 to every Hon. Member in this august House, does ZIMRA not have the right to ask where I got that money?

         THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: Hon. Muwodzeri, I would like to believe that it is not a policy question but if the Leader of Government Business intends to respond, he can do so but that is not a policy question.

         THE MINISTER OF JUSTICE, LEGAL AND PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS (HON. Z. ZIYAMBI): Thank you Madam Speaker. The Hon. Member can go and look into the laws that govern the collection of revenue and if he has any problems, then he can come with a specific question.

         HON. MANANZVA: Thank you Madam Speaker. My question is directed to the Minister of Local Government. What is the Government policy for private developers who are selling land to different individuals and spend a lot of years without servicing the area?

         THE MINISTER OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT AND PUBLIC WORKS (HON. GARWE): Thank you Madam Speaker. Let me take this opportunity to thank the Hon. Member for asking a pertinent question.  If I heard correctly, his question is targeted to specific developers. Can he put the question in writing so that we can respond in detail?

         HON. MAKUMIRE: On a point of order Madam Speaker, this is a common trend across the country, its not specific to any particular developer. The Minister has to respond to these issues because they are pertinent.

         THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: Hon. Makumire, you are out of order.

         HON. MUNEMO: Thank you Madam Speaker…

THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: Hon. Munemo, Hon. Ministers, I am noticing most of you are leaving now. We have 72 questions on the Order Paper that are directed to various ministries and it is of great importance that we get responses from ministries. If the Cabinet Minister is leaving, make sure the Deputy Minister is here to respond to the question.  I thank you.

*HON. MUNEMO: Thank you Madam Speaker. My question is directed to the Minister of Transport and Infrastructural Development.  I also want to take this opportunity to thank them for the programme which they started for road maintenance which is going to help a lot in the rural areas.  Minister, my question is, we have been waiting for that programme, is it not possible during this rainy season when buses are failing to reach other areas due to the excessive rains and bad roads, most of the people are now being left behind without reaching their destinations. Is it not possible to speed up the process of the programme so that there is enough help?

*THE MINISTER OF TRANSPORT AND INFRASTUCTURAL DEVELOPMENT (HON. MHONA): Thank you Madam Speaker Ma’am.  It is true that there are a lot of problems in terms of movement from one point to another, especially those who are using buses or their own private vehicles.  They are failing to cross different tributaries and rivers.  Yes, we have revitalised the maintenance units.   It is true that there are people who are supposed to look into these issues and respond swiftly when there is a problem. I believe that we are going to work together with local authorities and rural district councils.

We are going to work with these rapid response teams to make sure that we are going to work together with Rural District Councils and RIDA to make sure we put our minds together and come up with a solution, especially those who are using mode of transport and failing to reach their intended destinations.  Thank you.

          Questions Without Notice were interrupted by THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER in terms of Standing Order No. 68.

ORAL ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS WITH NOTICE

INSTALLATION OF RELEVANT CONNECTIVITY BOOSTERS AND TRANSMITTERS IN BINGA SOUTH

CONSTITUENCY

1. HON. CUMANZALA asked the Minister of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services to apprise the House on plans by the Ministry to install transmitters for radio and television in Binga South Constituency, particularly in Pashu, Siadindi, Sinamagonde, Chibila, Mabobolo and Chinonge wards to enable people to access information.

         THE MINISTER OF INFORMATION, PUBLICITY AND BROADCASTING SERVICES (HON. DR. MUSWERE): Thank you Madam Speaker – [HON. MEMBERS: Inaudible interjections.] –

         THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: Order, order!  Order Hon. Gumbo! 

         HON. DR. MUSWERE: Madam Speaker, the plan is Zim Digital Phase 2 project which is currently taking place.  We believe that within a period of two years, we will be in a position to have completed the full digitalisation of both radio and television services across the country.  Of great importance is that the priority is to focus primarily on the marginalised areas such as Binga through a licencing framework, which has allowed us as the Ministry to be able to deploy community radio stations in Binga District.  Thank you, Madam Speaker.

         HON. CUMANZALA: I should thank the Hon. Minister for the response which I believe is very brief. Where I come from, people are waiting for specific response because this is a written question – people want to know when this digitalisation will be implemented in Binga South. 

         The Hon. Minister referred to radio stations, of which we appreciate there is a radio station indeed but it does not reach Binga South because of the same problem which I have mentioned earlier – lack of transmission and transmitters for both radio stations and television. 

         Are there any specific plans related to Binga South or it is just for Binga in general? I thank you Hon. Speaker.

         HON. DR. MUSWERE: Thank you Madam Speaker. The question about Binga South, I have already responded in terms of timelines.  The current setup in terms of the digital infrastructure architecture is that Binga South was being supported through the Kamativi transmitter.  The issue mainly was not about transmission within that jurisdiction.  It was an issue related to power supply, which power supply challenges, we believe, are now coming to an end. 

         In order to ensure that we have total geographical coverage in terms of the whole Binga District, the Zim-Digital Phase 2 project which we will relaunch this year and will run for a maximum period of two years will ensure that we leave no place and no one behind.  Some of the stopgap measures that were put in place include community radio stations. 

         I will also expand in terms of Matabeleland North. Tomorrow as we commemorate World Radio Day, we are going to be in a position to launch the Hwange Community Radio Station as part of the stopgap measure.  In terms of duration, within a period of two years we will have been in a position to complete the entirety of the country.

         As I have indicated that within the first year – this 2025, we will be in a position to prioritise all the border areas and the marginalised areas in our country.  I thank you Madam Speaker. 

         ^*HON. MAMBIPIRI: Thank you so much Madam Speaker. I kindly ask the Hon. Minister not to lie to this House, especially – [HON. MEMBERS:  Inaudible interjections.]-

         THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: Hon. Mambipiri, you are out of order and please…

          ^*HON. MAMBIPIRI: I just want to explain where I see there is an error.

         THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: Order Hon. Mambipiri! Please take your seat – [HON. MEMBERS: Inaudible interjections.] – Order! There has been a request from Hon. Garwe, Minister of Local Government through the Chief Whip, that he has to rush for an urgent meeting. So, we are going to move to questions number 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61 and 62.

IMPLEMENTATION OF TOWN STATUS OF CHECHECHE IN CHIPINGE SOUTH

56. HON. C. HLATYWAYO asked the Minister of Local Government and Public Works to inform the House the progress made on the implementation of town status for Checheche in Chipinge South.

IMPLEMENTATION OF TOWN STATUS OF CHECHECHE IN CHIPINGE SOUTH

56. HON. C. HLATYWAYO asked the Minister of Local Government and Public Works to inform the House the progress made on the implementation of town status of Checheche in Chipinge South.

THE MINISTER OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT AND PUBLIC WORKS (HON. GARWE): Thank you Madam Speaker Ma’am for your consideration.  A team was constituted to assess the suitability of Checheche Growth Point to be accorded town board status.  The status is granted in terms of Section 57 of the Rural District Councils Act [Chapter 29:13].  The assessment was conducted in May, 2024.  The same team submitted a report recommending the upgrading of Checheche Growth Point to a town board status which was eventually approved. 

Madam Speaker, an implementation metrics was developed and submitted to guide operationalisation process.  The local authority is now supposed to advertise for the post of Town Board Administrator.  The Town Board Administrator will manage the affairs of Checheche Town Board and will be reporting to the Chief Executive Officer of Chipinge Rural District.  Furthermore, the local authority should select town board members to be approved by the Minister.  The Ministry will facilitate the training of the town board officials on their terms of references and mandate the granting and upgrading of the Growth Point in line with the President, Dr. Mnangagwa’s mantra of leaving no one and no place behind in the journey towards Vision 2030.  I so submit.

HON. C. HLATYWAYO:  Thank you, just a brief supplementary question.  Do we have timelines because you have indicated the activities and things that must be done?  Do you have timelines on that programme?

HON. GARWE:  Thank you very much Madam Speaker and I want to thank the Hon. Member for the supplementary question.  We are hoping to finalise everything within the first quarter of this year.

HON. MUTSEYAMI: Thank you Madam Speaker. If the Hon. Minister may appraise this House, what will be the status of the sitting councillor as in line with the board members for the town board.

HON. GARWE:  Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir, the standard procedure or the practice is, the sitting councillor becomes part of the councillors that sit in that board because we have got wards that are affected by that development, they will be part of the board or any other non-elected councillors.

HON. MAKUMIRE:  Thank you very much Mr. Speaker Sir.  The nation endeavours to achieve an Upper Middle-Income Economy by 2030.  With the current situation at Checheche Growth Point, there is no reticulation sewer, no adequate water supply and other essential or basic service delivery.  What are Government plans to ensure that the status is accorded in compliance to basic services that are in a town board.  Thank you.

HON. GARWE:  Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir.  Let me also thank the Hon. Member of Parliament for the question.  We have the regularisation policy under the Ministry of Local Government and Public Works to ensure that we provide services to areas such as Checheche and many other areas in that regard throughout the country. Caledonia is one of them, Harare South and many others throughout the country.  We have the responsibility as Government to ensure that we provide modern and affordable services in terms of the road network, sewer reticulation and many other services that must be provided including electricity through the Ministry of Energy and all those.  Our journey is to ensure that we have an Upper-Middle Income Economy status for the country and we cannot achieve that if we stick to the existing cities or the towns that we inherited from the colonial past. 

Mr. Speaker Sir, we need to develop some of these areas as a matter of urgency.  We need to ensure that we stop the migration of people from rural communities to urban areas, which is causing congestion in the urban areas; Harare is a case in point.  By developing these RDCs or these growth points into RDCs and town status, that is what we are doing.  Thank you very much. 

HON. MUWODZERI:  Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir.  I just wanted to find out from the Minister, what do you consider for a local board to be given a town status?

HON. GARWE:  Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir.  There are various factors that we consider when we are developing an RDC into a town board status. We consider population growth, economic activities; those are two major considerations that we look at and also its proximity to the other urban areas being developed in other areas.  Thank you.            

ALLOCATION OF LAND TO RELIGIOUS ORGANISATIONS

 

57. BAJILA asked the Minister of Local Government and Public Works to inform the House on Government’s plans to allocate land to religious organisations to mitigate unplanned land occupations which result in environmental degradation.

         THE MINISTER OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT AND PUBLIC WORKS (HON. GARWE): As the House may be aware, the Ministry of Local Government and Public Works imposed a moratorium in the allocation of urban State land on the 12^th June 2024 until further notice.  The moratorium was put in place to allow the Ministry to strengthen existing and establish new Urban State land Administration and Management systems.  The envisaged strengthened systems seek to curb land maladministration, close space for baronism as well as promoting environmental protection among other things.  The land allocation and servicing will therefore be informed by the new land administration system and shall prioritise the groups including the religious organisations.  I so submit.

         HON. BAJILA:  I wish to thank the Minister for his response.  The challenge of religious organisations occupying pieces of land at will is becoming bigger, affecting numerous issues around community development.  But I really appreciate the Minister’s response which looks at our land tenure and distribution systems.  What I would like to find out is if there is a time line where we can look forward to the end of this moratorium.  We have tried to engage these institutions but it gets difficult to get to the end because most of them end up saying they are occupying land at will because they belong to churches for Economic Development.

HON. GARWE:  Mr. Speaker Sir, I cannot give a specific time line but we are hoping that by end of May, we will have done everything that needs to be done in terms of ensuring that the land tenure management system is put in place.  There are many other areas that we need to look at as Zimbabweans and one of them is the minimum service delivery standards by our local authorities, which were none existent and we are putting in place.  We look at the minimum service delivery standards by local authorities together with the land management systems.  We want to come up with a holistic programme that will show where we are and where we ought to go in terms of land management system and minimum service delivery systems by our rural and urban local authorities. 

         +HON. D. MOYO: Thank you Mr. Speaker. I would like to indicate that in Nkulumane where I come from, the challenge is with regards to people that are fighting within the different traditional churches.  There are about three people who were arrested for getting to their worshipping places to destroy cloths that are used by different churches.  This ended in a bad fight. My wish is for the Minister to handle this issue amicably and immediately to avoid more fighting.  I thank you.

         HON. GARWE:  Mr. Speaker Sir, we are not aware of that and we will be very grateful if you could put it in writing, put down the specific organisations that are involved in these skirmishes so that together with the law enforcement agencies, we can come and bring peace in Nkulumane.  I thank you. 

INSTALLATION OF KINGS

 

58. BAJILA asked the Minister of Local Government and Public Works to inform the House regarding Government’s position with respect to the position of King in Matabeleland North as alluded to in a letter dated 28^th February 2018, preventing the installation of King Bulelani Khumalo.

         THE MINISTER OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT AND PUBLIC WORKS (HON. GARWE):  (a) There is no constitutional provision for kingship in Zimbabwe and therefore any claims to kingship fall away.

         HON. BAJILA: Thank you Mr. Speaker. I wish to thank the Minister for his response but I am sure that the question before the Minister does not only refer to that one specific response which he has made.  It makes reference to King Bulelani Khumalo, King Mambo and King Munhumutapa.  The import of the question is to get the reason why Government treated these three differently though they all have a claim on kingship.  So the Minister responded to (a) and I thought that since he had responded to (a), he would move on to (b) and (c).

         HON. GARWE:  Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir.  I had responded to (a) now let me come to (b):  The participation of chiefs in the installation of King Mambo in 2019 was a private function.  If chiefs participated, it was out of their own volition.

(c) Lastly, pertaining to the Ministry’s consent to the appointment of King Munhumutapa in High Court HC 3981/22, Timothy Chiminya seeks an order that he be recognised as the King in Zimbabwe where he rules all the traditional leaders.  The Ministry argued that there are no constitutional provisions to that effect as it only makes reference to Chiefs, headmen and village heads in terms of Section 283 of the Constitution.  The applicant then went to the High Court for a declaration.  The Ministry opposed the application and instructed the Attorney General who filed opposing papers arguing that there are no constitutional provisions to that effect.  The applicant, Mr. Chiminya, snatched a judgement but because of unknown reasons, he got a default judgement.  The Ministry immediately instructed the Attorney General to do a rescission of the judgement which is still before the courts.  The application for rescission has been heard before Justice Musithu who granted the order.  The effect of the rescission has been heard before Justice Musithu who granted the order. The effect of the rescission being granted is that the order which Chiminya was masquerading with, has been set aside and cannot claim to be the installed king.  The initial matter of 2022 is now pending and has to be heard on the merits, which means the matter will go for a full trial. 

The Ministry has never at any time consented to the appointment of Timothy Chiminya and as we speak, he is behind bars.  The law has taken its course and the same will apply to the other two.  I thank you.

         +HON. D. MOYO: My supplementary is, I want clarity because in 2019, there were chiefs in Marovaveni Esigodini who attended the event. My question is if the Ministry is going to do anything to these chiefs who went to this ceremony and why is our country having chiefs without policy?

         THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER:  The Minister has already answered you.  If it happened, it was not in our Constitution.  Yes, they might have gone there but it was a private function and that is what the Minister said.

POSITION REGARDING RESIDENTS WHO USED TO OCCUPY LAND WHERE PARLIAMENT IS CURRENTLY SITUATED

59. MANANZVA asked the Minister of Local Government and Public Works to inform the House what Government’s position is regarding residents who used to occupy the land in Wards 11 and 24 where the Parliament of Zimbabwe is currently situated, considering that more than 1000 of them have received eviction orders from private companies which have since expired.

         THE MINISTER OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT AND PUBLIC WORKS (HON. GARWE):  The new city in Mt. Hampden sits on approximately 15500 hectares and straddles two districts namely Mazowe and Zvimba.  Predominantly, the farms covered by the new city boundary were acquired by Government for agricultural purposes under A2 and A1 models.  The Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development is facilitating the acquisition of privately owned farms within the new city and onward handover of the farms to the Ministry of Local Government and Public Works, together with those held under A2 and A1 agricultural models for urban development.  Government makes valuations of the farms and compensate the farmers.  The acquisition and compensation processes are coordinated through the whole of Government approach wherein payments are done by Treasury.  All land owners, land occupiers and settlers in the new city shall be determined in the same manner.

         *HON. MANANZVA:  Where the Minister has said 1000, it is 10 000 residents. My supplementary question is on the families left living on compounds for those at Prince Charles Airport and just closer to the New Parliament Building.  I applaud the Ministry for coming up with a programme to rebury the relatives of these people.  As we look at Vision 2030 where the President wants everyone to have a place to reside, what is going to happen to those people without offer letters on those compounds?

         HON. GARWE:  We are all aware that the Ministry responsible for land is the one that will take care of the resettlement of these people in order to make way for the new city in line with the President’s vision and his mantra that leave no one and no place behind in terms of development.  I believe the Hon. Member is of the view that nothing is happening but a lot of paper work is being done between the two ministries; that is Local Government and Ministry of Lands.  If you would want to know more, you can come to our offices and we will enlighten you so that you will go back to the constituency and confidently articulate the wisdom that you would have got from our office.

INTRODUCTION OF RELIGIOUS RADIO LESSONS IN ZIMBABWE

2. HON. BAJILA asked the Minister of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services to inform the House what Government plans are regarding the introduction of religious radio licences in Zimbabwe.

           THE MINISTER OF INFORMATION, PUBLICITY AND BROADCASTING SERVICES (HON. DR. MUSWERE): We have since directed the Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe (BAZ) to immediately start consultations in terms of a licencing framework.  As soon as BAZ has finalised, we will also take it through other processes for validation and approval.  For now, we do not have such a framework and consultations have started. 

ACCESS TO LOCAL RADIO STATIONS FOR RURAL COMMUNITIES IN CHIREDZI  

3. HON. MAKUMIRE asked the Minister of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services to inform the House what Government’s plans are to improve access to local radio stations among Chiredzi rural communities in areas along the Zimbabwe-Mozambique border.

           THE MINISTER OF INFORMATION, PUBLICITY AND BROADCASTING SERVICES (HON. DR. MUSWERE): In terms of the current architecture, we have national radio coverage in many districts and in particular, we have reached 62% in terms of radio coverage.  We have six national radio stations.  In terms of Chiredzi District, we have licenced community radio stations by the name, Avuxeni Community Radio Station.

          As I have already highlighted that the Zim-Digital Phase 2 project has commenced for 2025 and 2026, the cut-off date is 2026 in December and the priority is border areas and previously marginalised areas.  As we roll out gap filling mechanisms such as community radio stations, which is an ongoing programme and as we also deploy in terms of Zim-Digital Phase 2 project, we believe that within the year 2025, we will be in a position to have covered all the border areas.  I thank you.

DISTRIBUTION OF INFORMATION CENTRES IN MATEBELELAND SOUTH PROVINCE

4. HON. BAJILA asked the Minister of Information, Communication Technology, Postal and Courier Services to inform the House about the distribution of Information Centres in Matabeleland South Province, district by district and plans in place to improve them.

THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF INFORMATION, COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY, POSTAL AND COURIER SERVICES (HON. PHUTI): Community Information Centres have been rebranded to be referred to as digital centres.  In Matabeleland South, there are 12 of these established.  I will quickly go down the detail as to the distribution pattern in the province but the Hansard will be favoured with the document that gives graphic details.

In Beitbridge, there is one and it is operating.  The network provider there is TelOne and it has got 15 cubic.

No	CIC NAME	Status	Link Provider	Cubicles	Training Facilities
1.	Beitbridge	Operating	TelOne	15	yes
2.	Buli High School	Operating	TelOne	45	yes
3.	Esigodini	Not operating	TelOne	8	yes
4.	Figtree	Not operating	TelOne	14	yes
5.	Filabusi	Not operating	Liquid	10	yes
6.	Gwanda	Operating	TelOne	10	yes
7.	Jahunda	Operating	TelOne	32	yes
8.	Maphisa	Operating	TelOne	16	yes
9.	Plumtree	Operating	TelOne	10	yes
10.	Shangani	Operating	TelOne	10	Yes
11.	West Nicholson	Operating	Liquid	12	yes
12.	Zezani	Operating	Liquid	13	yes

 

The CICs that are not operating are because they have no agents. The region has been having serious challenges in securing agents because the potentials are saying the agent fees are too little.  If they manage to recruit an agent, the incumbent does not last for more than a month. New community information centres that have been completed in the last quarter of 2023 and first quarter of 2024 are six, and all of these are in Matabeleland South, under the nationwide 32 Community Information Centre projects that were built under the new model of mortar on ground. These are bricks.

Those with respect of Matabeleland, Mr. Speaker Sir, are:-

No.	Site Name	District	Status
1.	Masendu	Bulilima	Operational
2.	Tshelanyemba	Matobo	Handed over to Zimpost for operationalisation
3.	Mawabeni	Umzingwane	Handed over to Zimpost for operationalisation
4.	Stanmore	Gwanda	Handed over to Zimpost for operationalisation
5.	Manama	Gwanda	Handed over to Zimpost for operationalisation
6.	Silalatshani	Insiza	Handed over to Zimpost for operationalisation

 

Lastly, Mr. Speaker Sir, training update at Community Information Centres in Matabeleland South Province -  it is free training in basic computer appreciation and is being carried out at all Community Information Centres in Matabeleland South Province by the Managing Operator of Zimbabwe Post, ZIMPOST in short.  The total number of people trained so far in Matabeleland South Province from 2017 to date is 1595.  Please note that in 2021, there was suspension of these trainings due to COVID-19 until the COVID-19 rules and protocols were lifted. I thank you, Mr. Speaker Sir.

Name of CIC	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023	2024	Total
Jahunda	318	341	71	20	0	0	0	0	750
Maphisa	314	303	135	4	5	0	48	0	809
Beitbridge			36		0	0	0	0	36
Total	632	644	242	24	5	0	48	0	1595

 

+HON. BAJILA:  Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir and thank you to the Hon. Minister for a detailed response.

My question is, as a Government Ministry, what are their programmes with regards to helping and ensuring that these people continue to operate and have employment? He clearly indicated that those that are employed they are not staying there for more than a month, which presents a challenge to those that will need help of being taught how to operate these machines. This is only because those employed there are not staying for more than a month. What is the Government doing in ensuring that these people are kept at employment? Thank you.

+ HON. PHUTI: Thank you Mr. Speaker, for giving me this opportunity to respond to this question, which is a supplementary to my response on people that are not staying long enough in employment to ensure that they remain there to train people on how to use this equipment.

Mr. Speaker Sir, I would like to explain to this august House that Community Information Centres came as a response or as a result of the Ministry of Information, Communication Technology, Postal and Courier Services.  The duty is for POTRAZ to provide computers and internet to these areas to assist the public to get know-how on how to use computers and access internet amongst issues to do with internet usage. With these information centres in their operations, the whole project was being done by ZIMPOST to ensure that most of these Community Information Centres are found in areas where there are post offices, save for those that are found in new buildings which were never post offices.

Later on, ZIMPOST failed to adequately remunerate employees, which is what made these employees fail to remain in there for longer to assist in the operations of these ZIMPOST offices.  In explaining further, to satisfy the question by Hon. Bajila, this institution has been tasked to go back and operate these information centres to ensure that it is the one that is going to pay employees and those who have been trained to assist people in using this equipment and providing internet to these areas. Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir.

HON. MANGALISO:  Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir.  I hope language has not defeated the question I would like to pose. Mr. Speaker, we have heard or were made to believe that computers were given to these information centres countrywide.  What I would like to find out is, is there a possibility or a policy where Government intends to upgrade these information centres probably to centres of ICT excellence rather than just being internet cafés? I thank you.

HON. PHUTI: Thank you, Mr. Speaker Sir. I would like to thank my colleague for a very noble challenge, which challenge we are also seized with as a Ministry.

Indeed, Community Information Centres are supposed to be upgraded to suit other needs to satisfy the public. One of those being offering e-government services.  The term ‘centre of excellence’ itself entails a lot and it speaks to the general need of upgrading our Community Information Centres. I take the challenge, Mr. Speaker Sir and I hope the Ministry will come to this august House to update on how we have modified the intended use of our Community Information Centres going forward.  I thank you.

THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER (HON. NGULUVHE):  Order, order! Just a minute. Hon. Members on my left, please try to lower your voices.

*HON. MAPIKI: My supplementary question is when the Hon. Minister was counting the number of Community Information Centres, it shows that they are very few. Why can the Ministry not also be involved in infrastructure share as the service providers are doing? Instead of building centres, they should use the facilities such as Vocational Training Centres that are being used by the Ministry of Youth Empowerment, Development and Vocational Training and innovation hubs for universities and schools so that it becomes easier.

I have observed that Matabeleland South has one and Matabeleland North has one as well. If they are going to be using the conduits like the Ministry of Youth Empowerment, Development and Vocational Training, we could have many centres rather than for you to continue building at a very slow pace. Can you not share with the other ministries that are already established? Thank you.

*THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER:  But before the Hon. Minister responds, the Hon. Minister was responding to a specific centre, to a question that specifically dealt with Matabeleland South.

*HON. PHUTI: I thank the Hon. Member for his suggestion. It is a good suggestion that we will look into quickly increasing the digital centres. Can we simply come up with digital centres in post offices or there are other means? He has given examples of using universities’ innovation hubs and VTCs but good as the vision is, I would want to add that in universities or tertiary institutions, the majority of them were given computers and equipped with computer laboratories but that does not stop us from adding more computers because they will also be used by the majority of the people. We could add more computers so that we have more digital centres in universities and vocational training centres.

In the VTCs, we also have given computers but not all of them have been allocated with computers but the majority of them were given last year. In conclusion, I would want to end by saying that these digital centres are found in post offices but it is our intention to come up with containerised village information centres. So, they will be using some containers and they will be modified into a structure that will be airconditioned and these will be put in areas such as Rutenga. There are also those that I have made reference to that they are 32 in my earlier response. These digital centres are built on mortar and brick. We intend to officially open them this year. Six of them are in Matebeleland South, specifically with the rest being around the country. Hon. Mapiki has just gone out but he was going to bear me out on the point that some are in Zaka and such other areas. I thank you.

ENHANCING OF MOBILE NETWORK CONNECTIVITY IN CHIREDZI’S AREAS NEAR SANGO BORDER POST

5. HON. MAKUMIRE asked the Minister of Information, Communication Technology, Postal and Courier Services to apprise the House on the plans by the Ministry to enhance mobile network connectivity in rural Chiredzi, particularly in Chilotlela, Davata, Madzanda and surrounding areas near Sango Border Post.

THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF INFORMATION, COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY, POSTAL AND COURIER SERVICES (HON. PHUTI): Currently, we have nine (9) existing base stations that service Chiredzi Rural and those are Chilonga, Chikombedzi, Boli, Pahlela, Gezani, Makhanani, Malipati, Sango Border and Chikwarakwara. One planned base station which is called Chisvobwanini is going to be funded through the Universal Service Fund and is planned for 2025.

Requested areas update – a place called Davata is to be covered by the newly planned base station that I mentioned which is supposed to be deployed this year. Madzanda, partly covered by Sango Border Post base station but surveys are to be carried out in 2025 to improve on coverage. I call on the Hon. Member to consistently be in touch with the Ministry or myself if that is to please you so that we work together in monitoring the pace on these surveys. The last one which is Chilotlela is covered by Sango Border Post. Because the Hon. Member asked a question on coverage, I am also available to work with him to see if the Sango Base Station adequately covers Chilotlela. I submit.

REHABILITATION OF ROADS IN CHIPINGE SOUTH CONSTITUENCY

23. HON. C. HLATYWAYO asked the Minister of Transport and Infrastructural Development to explain to the House the progress that has been made in the rehabilitation of roads in Chipinge South Constituency, particularly the following roads —

(a) Garahwa to Mashubi Primary School;

(b) Mahenye Road;

(c) Road to Mabee border with Mozambique;

(d) Checheche to Chisavanye;

(e) Gumira to Masimbe Township;

(f) Main road to Mukukuzi Township;

(g) Main road to Machona Primary School;

(h) Main road to Manzvire Primary School;

(i) Manzvire-Madhuku-Rimai Road.

THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF TRANSPORT AND INFRASTRUCTURAL DEVELOPMENT (HON. SACCO): My Ministry is responsible for maintaining the major highways and trunks that connect with the highways. In light of the above, the roads in question are under the purview of the Rural Infrastructure Development Agency (RIDA) and Chipinge Rural District Council.

In view of the forgoing, the administration of these roads in particular is as follows; the roads under the purview of RIDA are Mahenye Road where I am advised works are underway and the progress report to date reflect that the 5 – 50 km has been tow-graded up to date so far.

The road to Mabee Border with Mozambique, plans are underway and are at an advanced stage to grade the 7 km peg from Maria to Hwakwata Road and with Manzvire to Madhuku-Rimai Road, works are underway with progress to date reflecting that the 10 – 21 km peg has been re-gravelled successfully and construction of two pipe drifts and three culverts has been done.

I would like to comment that RIDA is in the process of procuring equipment and we expect that equipment to be in the country in the near future which will also increase the capacity of RIDA to do these roads under their purview. The roads under the purview of Chipinge Rural District Council include Garahwa to Mashubi School access road, Checheche - Chisavanye Road, Gumira to Masimbe Township, Mukukuzi Township access road, Machona School access road as well as the Manzvire School access road. The council maintains the above-mentioned roads in order of their priority after submission and through assessment. So far, priority is being given to the roads that were affected by Cyclone Idai.

However, we strive to consider all these roads in the constituency and around the country. As the Excellency, His President says, leaving no one and no place behind. Our councils Mr. Speaker Sir, are also being capacitated in the future where we are looking at purchasing equipment for the councils across the country using funding from ZINARA to also increase their capacity. I so submit.

         *HON. C. HLATYWAYO: My question to the Minister is that the country works with the departments and the departments are under the Ministry. My question is that since they are the Ministry that is responsible for Transport and Infrastructure Development, are they not supposed to coordinate these works? There is a road that I asked, which starts from Manzvire and passes through to Rimai and Bera. For the past years there has been gravel road and it is not easily accessible. There are no bridges, RIDA was putting in gravel and they would leave out the construction of the bridges and it is not accessible. A lot of places are being left. It is my plea that if they are responsible for the coordination, maybe he should tell us what is happening in terms of construction since they are the ones that deal with infrastructure.

HON. SACCO: Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir. I would want to respond to my colleague who is talking about the road from Rimai to Manzvire. All these roads have responsible authorities. That is the truth of the matter that the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure Development has the overall oversight. Each road has its own responsible authority, one is for the Ministry of Transport and the other one is for RIDA and the Rural District Council. Since you have made reference to these issues, I believe that it is important that we talk to RIDA so that the said roads have bridges constructed. The equipment is on its way and should be with them very soon. I will be more interested in going there so that we see how best we can assist you. I thank you.

         Questions With Notice were interrupted by THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER in terms of Standing Order No. 68.

         HON. ENG. MHANGWA: Mr. Speaker Sir, I move that time for Questions with Notice be extended with 30 minutes.

         HON. MUROMBEDZI: I second.

         Motion put and agreed to.

REHABILITATION OF ROADS UNDER THE EMERGENCY ROAD REHABILITATION PROGRAMME IN MKOBA SOUTH CONSTITUENCY

27. HON. KUKA asked the Minister of Transport and Infrastructural Development to inform the House why the following roads under the Emergency Road Rehabilitation Programme in Mkoba South Constituency have not yet been rehabilitated for the past three years—

(a) from Mkoba 12 Turn Off -Vashandiri Centre to Mkoba 17

     turn off;

(b) from Mkoba 3 Salvation Army Church turn off to Mkoba 5

      turn off.

         THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF TRANSPORT AND INFRASTRUCTURAL DEVELOPMENT (HON. SACCO): Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir. My response is that the roads in question form part of the Emergency Road Rehabilitation Programme, which seeks to rehabilitate roads country wide as declared by the Head of State and Government. The programme is running in phases, plans are under way at an advanced stage to complete the roads in question and all other roads that are outstanding and scheduled for the ERRP2, which has been extended to December 2026. I would also like to advise the Hon. Member that we are conducting a nation-wide tour to look at areas of priority across all the provinces. When I go to Bulawayo, I will definitely advise him so that we can go and visit the roads in question together. I so submit.

         *HON. KUKA: Thank you Mr. Speaker.  Thank you Hon. Minister for your response.  I think it is important that the time has been extended to December, 2026 but my question is, when are you coming to Bulawayo so that we would also be ready?  We do not have tarred roads.  Since 2021 until now, we have gravel roads only.  May you assist us in that regard.

         *HON. SACCO: Thank you Mr. Speaker.  I would want to inform the Hon. Member that the following week, I will be in Bulawayo where I will be in a position to visit the said roads, next week on Thursday if the Hon. Member is free.

COMPENSATION OF CROCODILE VICTIMS ALONG SAVE RIVER IN CHIPINGE SOUTH

 

50. HON. C. HLATYWAYO asked the Minister of Environment, Climate and Wildlife to explain to the House how the Ministry intends to compensate victims of crocodile attacks along Save River and Jerawachera in Chipinge South.

         THE MINISTER OF ENVIRONMENT, CLIMATE AND WILDLIFE (HON. DR. NYONI): Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir.  I would like to thank Hon. Hlatywayo for the question.  Zimbabwe faces challenges with human-wildlife conflicts such as crocodile attacks, especially in wildlife corridors and in areas adjacent to wildlife areas.  Hence, human-wildlife conflicts are recorded in various districts in Zimbabwe, including Chipinge South.  Several factors influence crocodile attacks and other human-wildlife conflicts such as increasing wildlife and human populations in both areas.  Human encroachment into wildlife corridors and habitants, crossing, fishing and use of crocodile infested rivers among others.

      As part of our measures to address these challenges, we are working towards the establishment of Human-Wildlife Conflict Relief Fund, whose operationalisation largely depends on the passing of the new Parks and Wildlife Management Bill.  The fund will initially focus on relief to victims of death, injury and maiming as a result of wild animals before extending to cover other areas.  Further, it is also important to note that several public and private stakeholders are already collaboratively involved in human-wildlife conflict mitigation and assistance programmes across the country.  These are assisting communities on case by case basis. 

     It is also important for me to highlight that under the Community Areas Management Programme for indigenous resources campfire, rural district councils or appropriate authorities that benefit from wildlife are obliged to assist local communities and victims of human-wildlife conflict, wherever possible.  The Ministry, through the Parks and Wildlife Management Authority, has made the following interventions to manage human-crocodile conflicts in Chipinge South, as with other human-wildlife conflict hotspots.

-Conducting frequent education and awareness sessions with fishermen and holiday makers on the potential threats posed by crocodiles on the lake.

-Putting up,’ be aware of crocodile’ signs at all strategic points, entry points, offices and on the lakeshore.

-Intensifying enforcement of the ‘fish from the bank’ bylaw through ranger patrols along the lakeshore.

-Provision of canoe hiring facilities for fishermen/anglers where possible, so that they do not dip their legs in water as they fish.

-ZimParks has enhanced monitoring efforts on major water bodies and where possible, remove problem crocodiles in the water body and

-Where appropriate, measures such as reduction of crocodile populations are also being considered by ZimParks and its stakeholders.  I thank you.

 CONSERVATION AND REHABILITATION OF LAND IN AREAS WITH OPEN CAST MINING

51. HON. BONDA asked the Minister of Environment, Climate and Wildlife to explain the measures being taken regarding the conservation and rehabilitation of land in areas where open cast mining poses environmental degradation.

         THE MINISTER OF ENVIRONMENT, CLIMATE AND WILDLIFE (HON. DR. NYONI): Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir.  I would like to thank the Hon. Member for asking that question.  I want to appreciate the question raised by the Hon. Member, regarding the conservation and degradation of land.  Mining is one of our key economic sectors as a country and it provides an appropriate opportunity to transform lives, through creation of jobs and infrastructural development.  However, it is important to note that mineral resources are finite, hence mining should be done in an environmentally sustainable manner to ensure a clean, safe and healthy environment for the current and future generations, as provided under Section 73 of the Constitution of Zimbabwe. 

       Let me hasten to say out that mining is prescribed in terms of Section 97:1 as read with the First Schedule of the Environmental Management Act [Chapter 20:27].  The significance of the prescription is that all forms of mining activities including exploration and processing are required to undergo an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) process before they are implemented.  The EIA process allows for all environmental impacts to be analysed focusing on the entire life cycle of the mine, that is planning stage, construction stage, mining stage and de-commissioning stage. The mitigation measures are included in the Environmental and Social Management Plan (ESMP). Miners are then compelled to follow the management plan in terms of biodiversity conservation and rehabilitation.

The Government under the astute and servant leadership of our President of the Republic of Zimbabwe, Dr. E. D Mnangagwa is highly sensitive to environmental management, paying particular attention to biodiversity conservation and maintenance of healthy ecosystems in general across the entire geographical landscape of our country. You would recall Mr. Speaker Sir, that in 2024, His Excellency commissioned a team to carry out ‘responsible mining audits’ with inspectors drawn from all relevant Government departments. The team audited a number of mining operations enforcing laws to do with environmental management mining, local governance, land tenure just to mention but a few.

It is also important to note that, the rehabilitation of mined areas has a target of the National Development Strategy1 (NDS1), reinforcing the Government’s commitment to environmental conservation. Going forward, the Ministry is keen on full implementation of the polluter or user pays principle or effective apportionment of environmental cost to be borne by the polluter themselves. That implies that any miner who would mine and leave unrehabilitated pits will be brought to book and then made to account and make good of the environment.

Further, the Ministry is working on a framework for implementing the natural capital counting principal to enable quantification of valuation of goods and services from our environment as a contribution of our socio-economic wellbeing. The ultimate objective is to make environmental accounts as part of the national budgeting process.

I am also happy that through our efforts in education, publicity and awareness raising on environmental rights to communities, our people are now providing information on the authorities where environment is being degraded, they raise appeals, objections and in other cases, they go on litigation on their own. So, mining companies are now being made to account at community level. Our communities are now empowered.

We of course have to continuously strengthen our laws to ensure deterrence and accountability. To that extent, Mr. Speaker Sir, we are working on the Bill to amend the Environmental Management Act that will go a long way in addressing some of the loopholes we are identifying as we are enforcing the rehabilitation and conservation works. The major loophole is on financing of the rehabilitation work post mining activities.

 I also want to appreciate the strong working relationships that we have as Ministry with Parliament, particularly the Portfolio Committee on Environment as they exercise their oversight function on theses matters for their work and good work, they do the Ministry is grateful. I thank you. 

THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: Hon Members must take note that we have added thirty minutes, so let us try and listen otherwise the time will lapse.

HON. BONDA: Yes, I will be so short. Thank you, Mr. Speaker Sir. I just wanted to know if the Government has got a policy that compels the miners after mining, that they can close all the holes that they leave around on the environment or rehabilitate or do some kind of planting of vegetation as we are normally compelled by the State on the 1^st of December to plant those trees. I thank you.

THE MINISTER OF ENVIRONMENT, CLIMATE AND WILDLIFE (HON. DR. NYONI): Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir, yes Government does require any miner to do the rehabilitation themselves. Let me point out that the responsibility does not just lie with us because the Ministry of Mines and Mining Development will give people claims and then we go there to do the assessment and give them the plan. We keep monitoring but sometimes after they finish, they just vanish but the Ministry of Mines and Mining Development would know what would have happened. So, both the Ministry of Mines and Mining Development and the Ministry of Environment, Climate and Wildlife need to come together and follow up these miners because as a Ministry, we say the polluter or someone who has dug the holes has the responsibility to rehabilitate. So in cases where we know where the people are and who they are, we follow them up to bring them to account but there are times when we do not find everybody. As I said, we are calling upon the public to also work together with us so that we mitigate because it is also important that they do not just cover the holes but also to plant the trees so that the land goes back to normal. I thank you.      

MANAGEMENT OF SMOKE ON RURAL AND URBAN RESIDENTIAL AREAS IN HWANGE

52. 52. HON. BONDA asked the Minister of Environment, Climate Change and Wildlife to inform the House the measures being taken regarding the management of smoke on rural and urban residential areas in the Hwange District mining zones.

THE MINISTER OF ENVIRONMENT, CLIMATE AND WILDLIFE (HON. DR. NYONI):  Mr. Speaker Sir, let me begin by appreciating the question from the Hon. Member. It is a fundamental question in terms of ensuring a clean, safe and healthy environment for people, which is a constitutional right provided under Section 73 of the Constitution of Zimbabwe.

Air pollution is one of the major environmental threats across the world, Zimbabwe included. It is posing a healthy risk, particularly to those who may be already suffering respiratory challenges such as asthma. The airshed of Hwange is largely affected by emissions from coal coking processes, power generation, natural coal spontaneous burning during hot and dry seasons.

I wish to highlight that the Environmental Management Act [Chapter 20:27] and Statutory Instrument 72 of 2009, provides a workable legal framework to control and monitor emissions from all processes. To that extent, I wish to report that environmental monitoring is done on these processes to ensure compliance. Air pollution monitoring requires automation and instrumentation to be able to capture data accurately. I am delighted to report that we have already capacitated the Environmental Management Agency with some of the required equipment such as flu gas analysers which are used for sampling of gases on various chimneys and stacks, an isokinetic sampler which is used for sampling and analysing particulate matter on chimneys and stacks and micro dust analysers which are used for sampling and analysing particulate matter on the receiving environment.

Using these instruments, all the companies in Hwange, including the receiving environment have been measured. Environmental protection orders with various conditions were issued in terms of Section 37 of the Environmental Management Act [Chapter 20:27] to ensure compliance. Plans are at an advanced stage to install some real time air emissions monitoring in Hwange which allow continuous data collection in Hwange.

Going forward, we are working on a framework which would allow the installation of Continuous Emissions Monitoring Systems (CEMs) for instantaneous detection and reporting of all abnormal emissions/smoke from chimneys hence quick interventions and quick corrective action. The CEMs are the advanced technology now available to enhance emissions control. However, it has to be noted that this technology, CEMs, comes at a significant cost and Government is still making plans to get more and install more. Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir.

HON. BAJILA:  On a point of privilege Mr. Speaker Sir.

THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER:  What is your point of privilege?

HON. BAJILA:  I would like to request that now we have run out of time, if there are Ministers in the House who have their questions written, maybe they could submit to Hansard.

THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER:  Thank you Honourable but the procedure is that the individual Members are the ones who must be consulted. If they are in agreement, there is no objection. Unless, those affected Hon. Members do so. Otherwise we cannot just overrule them.

WRITTEN SUBMISSIONS TO QUESTIONS WITH NOTICE

REHABILITATION OF SHONHIWA AND KOSHERN DRIVEWAY IN NORTON

24. HON. TSVANGIRAYI asked the Minister of Transport and Infrastructural Development to inform the House on the progress that has been made towards the rehabilitation of Shonhiwa and Koshern Driveway in Norton and to further state the deadline for the completion of this project.

THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF TRANSPORT AND INFRASTRUCTURAL DEVELOPMENT (HON. SACCO): The rehabilitation of the Shonhiwa and Koshern Drive is underway with all earthworks having been commenced on this road to date. Government is committed to complete the rehabilitation of the roads in question. I am pleased to announce that almost all resources have been mobilised in order to complete this project by mid-2025.

CONSTRUCTION OF CLASSROOM BLOCKS FOR PRIMARY SCHOOLS IN BUDIRIRO AND MUWUNGA IN MKOBA SOUTH CONSTITUENCY

62. HON. KUKA asked the Minister of Primary and Secondary Education to inform the House on plans that have been put in place for the construction of classroom blocks to accommodate high student enrolment in primary schools such as Budiriro and Muwunga in Mkoba South Constituency.

THE MINISTER OF PRIMARY AND SECONDARY EDUCATION (HON. T. MOYO): Thank you for your critical question regarding infrastructure development in schools within Mkoba South Constituency and beyond. The Ministry acknowledges the urgency of addressing classroom shortages exacerbated by high pupils’ enrolment, and we remain steadfast in our commitment to equitable, sustainable solutions.

Nation Strategy & Public – Private Partnerships (PPPS):

The ministry has prioritised infrastructural development through Partnerships (PPPS) to accelerate the construction of classrooms, laboratories and administration blocks. School facing acute shortages including Budiriro and Mawunga Primary Schools are on a prioritised list for PPP interventions. However, fiscal constraints necessitate a phase …strategic approach to ensure resources are located where they are most critically needed.

Localised Measures For Mkoba South Constituency:

Mawunga Primary School- Immediate Mitigation:  Double sessions for Grades 1-5 have been implemented to optimise existing infrastructure.

Long-Term Plan: Construction of an Early Childhood Development (ECD) Block is scheduled for completion by end of 2025, directly addressing overcrowding and enhancing foundational learning spaces.

Budiriro Primary School – Streamlined Enrolment: The District Office has identified underutilised classrooms due to uneven enrolment.  Classes with low numbers will be merged to free up space, ensuring efficient use of infrastructure.

PPP Prioritisation:  Budiriro remains a candidate for future PPP projects to expand permanent facilities.

Community-Led Solutions:  In alignment with the Ministry’s decentralised approach, School Development Committees (SDCs) are empowered to mobilise levies for urgent, school-specific needs.  This ensures communities actively participate in resolving challenges while awaiting national interventions.

Closing Commitment:  The Ministry reaffirms its resolve to bridge infrastructure gaps through innovation, collaboration and fiscal prudence.  We will continue to engage stakeholders at all levels to safeguard every child’s right to quality education in conducive environments.

POSITION REGARDS TO LEARNERS UNDER THE BASIC EDUCATION ASSISTANCE MODULE (BEAM) IN CASES OF TRANSFERS

69. HON N. MGUNI: To ask the Minister of Primary and Secondary Education to inform the House the Ministry’s position with regards to learns catered under the Basic Education Assistance Module (BEAM) in cases of transfers from one school to the other.

THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF PRIMARY AND SECONDARY EDUCATION (HON. GATA): Thank you, Hon. Member for your vital inquiry reading the Basic Education Assistance Module (BEAM) and its provisions for learners transitioning between schools. The Ministry remains unwavering in its commitment to ensuring equitable access to education for all beneficiaries, irrespective of mobility between institutions.

The Ministry affirms that no learner under BEAM shall face disruption in their education due to transfers. BEAM beneficiaries retain their eligibility and financial support when moving to a new school, provided the stipulated protocols are followed.

The Head of the former school must formally notify the Head of the receiving school in writing, confirming the learner’s BEAM within the transfer letter. Beam is reviewed after a year.

Simultaneously, the former school’s Head is required to inform the District Schools inspector (DSI) to update records and ensure continuity of support. The new institution must honour the learner’s BEAM status immediately, waiving all fees covered under the programmes.  Under no circumstances shall a BEAM beneficiary be denied admission, sent home, or stigmatised due to non-payment of school fees.

These measures are codified in the BEAM Operational Manual, which outlines strict guidelines for implementation cycles, beneficiary continuity, replacements and exits. Compliance is mandatory for all schools. The Ministry has instituted robust monitoring mechanisms, including collaborating with DSIs and school inspectors, to enforce adherence. Any school found violating these protocols will face disciplinary action to uphold the integrity of BEAM and protect vulnerable learners.

Education is a right, not a privilege. The Ministry will continue to refine BEAM’s frameworks to eliminate bureaucratic barriers, ensuring zero disruption to learner’s academic journey. We remain steadfast in partnering with schools, communities and stakeholders to advance inclusive, frictionless access to quality education.

January monitoring – As Head Office

Joint monitoring – With partners’ transparency and third eye.

PREPAREDNESS OF TEACHERS IN KHAMI DISTRICT OF BULAWAYO, TO IMPLEMENT THE HERITAGE BASED CURRICULUM

70. HON. BAJILA to ask the Minister of Primary and Secondary Education to brief the House on preparations of teachers to implement the Heritage Based Curriculum especially those in Khami District, Bulawayo

         The Minister of Primary Secondary Education has taken the necessary measures to ensure the implementation of the Heritage-Based Curriculum.  As previously announced, the Ministry had availed the key documents such as the Curriculum Framework and the Narrative Reports.  These documents are now in the public domain.  All our Ministry personnel, including teachers have access to these key documents. From these documents, the Ministry has prepared learning area syllabi that are in line with the Heritage-Based Curriculum, thus marking a departure from the 2015 to 2022 Competence Based Curriculum.  To this effect, the Ministry has availed all the necessary syllabi for all grades/levels that are from ECD A to A level.  These are the syllabi that are currently in use in all schools in Zimbabwe

DISTRIBUTION OF THE 90 SCHOOLS BUILT BY GOVERNMENT IN 2002 BY PROVINCES AND DISTRICTS

71. HON. BAJILA: asked the Minister of Primary and Secondary Education to inform the House on the distribution of 90 schools built by the Government in 2024, disaggregated by Provinces and Districts.

HON. GATA: Thank you Hon. Bajila for affording me this opportunity to provide information regarding the 90 schools built by the Government in 2024. This effort demonstrated our wavering commitment to ensuring equitable access to quality education in line with the National Strategy1 9NDS) and Vision 2030 goals.

         The distribution of these schools was guided by a thorough needs assessment, focusing on areas with the most critical infrastructure gaps, particularly in rural and underserved communities.

         The Hon. Members, the Government remains committed to bridging infrastructure gaps across the nation. The construction of these schools has improved learning conditions and brought education closer to many marginalised communities. We continue to collaborate with stakeholders to ensure all children access quality education regardless of their geographical location. The table below shows the distribution:

	Buhera	29. Zvenyika Primary
	Buhera	30. St Nimrod 3
	Mutare	31. Waterview Primary
	Mutare	32. St John the Baptist
	Chimanimani	33. Runyararo Primary
	Chimanimani	34.St Charles Lwanga
	Chimanimani	35. Chikware Primary
	Mutasa	36. Riverside Primary
	Mutasa	37. Pinkrose Primary
	Zvimba	38. Lord Brighton Junior School
	Zvimba	39. Lord Brighton Junior School
	Chegutu	40. Hearts Christian College
	Chegutu	41. Springs of Springs Primary school
	Hurungwe	42.Tinselberg Primary School
Bulawayo Metropolitan	Imbizo District	43. JCM Primary School
	Imbizo District	44. Victory Junior School
	Imbizo District	45. Morning Star Primary
Masvingo	Bikita	46. Gomba Primary
	Masvingo	47. St Makebo Primary
	Mwenezi	48. Lirhanzo Secondary
	Zaka	49. Mukushi Secondary
Matebeleland South	Mangwe	50. Mathendela Primary
	Mangwe	51. Plumtree Adventist
	Beitbridge	52. Makhado Primary
	Beitbridge	53. Tripple T Academy
	Sanyati	54. Easterlea Primary School
Mashonaland East	Murehwa	55. Rockview Primary
	Seke	56. St John Primary
	Seke	57. St Anorid Primary 4
	Seke	58. First Choice
	Seke	59. Mawana Primary

 

	Seke	60.St Johns School
	Seke	61. St Arnold Secondary
	Seke	62. Kasipiti
	Goromonzi	63. Aspire International College
	Goromonzi	64. Alphabet Junior
	Goromonzi	65. Quality Junior
	Goromonzi	66. Muswiti Secondary
	Goromonzi	67. Runyararo Secondary
	Goromonzi	68. Runyararo Primary
	Marondera	69.Corner Stone Primary
	Marondera	70. Grace Christian Primary
	Seke	71. School made easy
	Seke	72. Rainbow academy
	Seke	73. Kids are kids
	Seke	74. Rockview Primary
Midlands	Chirumanzu	75. Acebs Primary
	Gweru	76. Genesis Junior School
	Gweru	77. Victory Church
	Gweru	78. Gangarabwe Secondary School
	Gweru	79. Progress Independent College
	Gweru	79. Progress Independent College
	Gokwe South	80. Mushavi Primary
	Gokwe South	81. Tachi Secondary
	Gokwe South	82. Musala Secondary
	Gokwe South	84. St Abels Primary
	Gokwe South	85. St Abels 2 Secondary
	Gokwe South	86. Blessed Hope ECD
	Gokwe South	87. Elite Secondary
	Zvishavane	88. Mutshingwe Secondary
	Zvishavane	89. Highlands Primary
Mashonaland Central		90. Tachi Secondary

 

MOTION

BUSINESS OF THE HOUSE

HON. KAMBUZUMA:  Mr. Speaker Sir, I move that Orders of the Day, Numbers 1 to 21 be stood over until Order of the Day Number 22 has been disposed of.

HON. S. MAHLANGU:  I second.

Motion put and agreed to.

MOTION

REPORT OF THE PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE ON DEFENCE, HOME AFFAIRS, SECURITY SERVICES AND WAR VETERANS AFFAIRS ON THE PETITION FROM SAM PARIRENYATWA ON THE EXHUMATION AND DECENT BURIAL OF HEROES AND HEROINES

Twenty-Second Order read:  Adjourned debate on motion on the Report of the Portfolio Committee on Defence, Home Affairs, Security Services and War Veterans Affairs on the Petition from Sam Parirenyatwa on exhumation and decent reburial of heroes and heroines who perished during the Liberation Struggle.

Question again proposed.

THE MINISTER OF VETERANS OF THE LIBERATION STRUGGLE AFFAIRS (HON. SEN.  MAVHUNGA): Mr. Speaker Sir, fellow Hon. Members of Parliament, my Ministry sincerely thanks and appreciates the petition from the Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans Association represented by Comrade Sam Parirenyatwa, on the need to bring closure to families who lost their beloved ones during the liberation war through repatriation of their remains and reburials.  As alluded to in the petition, reburials of those who died in the country are being conducted by family members and volunteers.          

The current legislation does not cover reburials of those who passed on during the liberation war.  The Veterans of the Liberation Struggle Act [Chapter 17:12] deals with those who were alive at the time of enactment of the now repealed War Veterans Act.  In terms of this law, a veteran must go through a vetting process before his or her credentials as a liberation war fighter are confirmed.  This automatically disqualifies those who passed on before 1997 because they could not appear in person before the vetting teams.  It is for this reason that luminaries such as the late Generals Josiah Tongogara and Nikita Mangena are not in the register of war veterans despite their positions during the war of liberation.  Paradoxically, they are recognised as heroes for their role as commanders in terms of the National Heroes Act [Chapter 10:16] and their dependents are entitled to State assistance.

Mr. Speaker Sir, there is also the War Victims Compensation Act [Chapter 11:16] that provides for compensation as a result of injury or death caused by the war but is silent on reburials and repatriation of the remains of those who died.  It is therefore clear that there is a gap within the existing pieces of legislation.  This leads to a totally disjoined approach to the matter, resulting in individual families and volunteers taking the lead in reburials.

Mr. Speaker Sir, when the Ministry was established on 11^th September, 2023, the Office of the President and Cabinet included the following functions in the Ministry’s mandate:

• To institute measures to accurately record, document and preserve the history of the liberation struggle and
• Memorialisation of the liberation war through repatriation, reburials and relevant process to bring closure to families of deceased veterans.

The ministry is currently engaging the Public Service Commission so that the liberation war heritage posts in the Ministry are staffed.  As you will however appreciate, the process of reburials is complex and cannot be handled by one Ministry alone. The Office of the President and Cabinet and the Ministries of Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage and Local Government and Public Works have a significant role to play. Other stakeholders such as ZANU PF as a liberation movement that united ZANLA and ZIPRA forces that fought the liberation struggle and veterans’ associations also have a role to play in the memorialisation of the liberation struggle.

  Where repatriations are involved, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Trade will play a critical role. Governments of the countries where the veterans are buried are critical stakeholders who need to be part of the planning process.

Mr. Speaker Sir, as the Ministry responsible for the welfare and economic emancipation of veterans of the liberation struggle, we observed that there was a gap in the Veterans of the Liberation Struggle Act [Chapter 17:12] in addressing issues of post humous recognition, exhumation, repatriation and reburial of veterans of the liberation struggle who perished during the war of liberation. My Ministry has so far submitted amendment principles of the Veterans of the Liberation Struggle Act to accommodate these issues. The amendment will provide that all freedom fighters who bravely perished during the war of liberation in battles inside Zimbabwe and in neighbouring countries must be accorded decent reburials as acknowledgement of their selfless contribution to the liberation struggle and ensuring that their final resting places reflect the respect they deserve.

  In the last four months of 2024, my Ministry in collaboration with the Ministry of Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage, exhumed and reburied several fallen heroes who bravely lost their lives during the liberation struggle.  These include one comrade in Chiredzi, two comrades in Hurungwe, forty-four comrades in Mutasa and one comrade in Mt. Darwin.  The events not only served as a solemn remembrance on the heroes’ contributions but also as a healing mechanism for thousands of families who lost their beloved ones during the brutal war, communities and the nation at large, allowing for a formal closure to the bad patch of our history.

  Freedom fighters made pledges in battle when one of them succumbed to enemy fire: ‘Comrade waparadzwa nemuvengi.  Asi kana hondo ikapera ndiri mupenyu, ndichauya kuzokutora’. 

  Some veterans who survived the war are haunted by this pledge they made to their fallen patriots.  They flood my Ministry’s offices inquiring about the reburials of their compatriots.  Some veterans formed the Fallen Heroes Trust with the sole objective of fulfilling the wartime pledge to their fallen comrades. The Fallen Heroes Trust has played a significant role at Chibondo and other areas in the country where fallen heroes’ remains are in shallow graves and mine shafts.

  Mr. Speaker Sir, from the few burials that we conduct, it is evident that the process of exhumations and reburials require huge financial supports.  The costs are even higher for remains which lie outside our boarders.  The preferred approach is a once-off identification, exhumation, repatriation and reburial programme as opposed to piecemeal approach extended over several years because the informants may no longer be alive.

  As indicated in the Ministry’s budget priorities for 2025, there is need for memorialisation, identification, exhumation, reburials and closure for the families whose members joined the war of liberation and never returned. In the 2005 budget, ZiG88398000 has been allocated for the purpose.

  This allocation will enable registration of those who died during the war and create proper registers as current estimates are not based on any research.

  However, only two hundred veterans who died during the liberation war will be reburied instead of the projected one thousand for 2025.  The intention was to conduct the reburials in the shortest possible time but this will not be possible with the amount allocated.  The Ministry will continue to lobby Treasury for allocation of more resources in order to expedite the reburial exercise and bring closure to families who lost their loved ones.

  Mr. Speaker Sir, in its report on the petition, the Portfolio Committee recommended that the Ministry must timeously pay funeral benefits upon the death of a veterans of the liberation struggle within a period of three days since families are now meeting the funeral expenses on their own owing to delays in payment.  It is pertinent to highlight that the Ministry has decentralised payment of the funeral benefits to provinces in order to avoid delays but lack of adequate funding by Treasury has been the major setback.          

  As a result, relatives end up contributing to funeral expenses.  The Ministry is engaging Treasury on increasing the funeral grant in order to offer departed veterans decent burials.  

Mr. Speaker Sir, fellow Members of Parliament, in conclusion, the Ministry shall embark on memorialisation of the liberation war this year through identification, exhumation, repatriation and reburials to bring closure to the liberation struggle. As already alluded to earlier in my presentation as a prelude to the mammoth exercise and in conjunction with the Fallen Heroes Trust, the Ministry has already reburied several fallen heroes in Chiredzi, Hurungwe, Mutasa and Mt. Darwin in 2024.

The Public Service Commission has since approved the creation of a department to undertake the reburial and history recording functions.  It is now critical to engage other stakeholders to jointly chart the way forward in conducting this mammoth task.  Going forward, adequate funding is critical for the success of the programme.  I thank you.

HON. KAMBUZUMA:  Mr. Speaker Sir, I move that the debate do now adjourn.

HON. C. MOYO:  I second.

Motion put and agreed to.

Debate to resume: Thursday, 13^th February, 2024.

On the motion of HON. KAMBUZUMA, seconded by HON. C. MOYO, the House adjourned at Nine Minutes past Six o’clock p.m.