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NATIONAL ASSEMBLY HANSARD 14 MAY 2025 Vol. 51 No. 47
PARLIAMENT OF ZIMBABWE
Wednesday, 14th May, 2025
The National Assembly met at a Quarter-past Two o’clock p.m.
PRAYERS
(THE HON. DEPUTY SPEAKER in the Chair)
ANNOUNCEMENTS BY THE HON. DEPUTY SPEAKER
HALF-DAY WORKSHOP TO UNPACK THE INTERNATIONAL LABOUR ORGANISATION VIOLENCE AND HARASSMENT CONVENTION
THE HON. DEPUTY SPEAKER: I have to inform the House that all Hon. Members are invited to a half-day workshop to unpack the International Labour Organisation Violence and Harassment Convention. The workshop is scheduled for Thursday, 15th May, 2025 at 0800 hours in the Multi-Purpose Hall.
ORAL ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE
HON. KARIMATSENGA-NYAMUPINGA: Madam Speaker, is it about questions or points of national interest that I wanted to ask your indulgence if I could?
THE HON. DEPUTY SPEAKER: You will have the chance to ask tomorrow Hon. Nyamupinga, today we are not supposed to raise points of national interest.
HON. KARIMATSENGA-NYAMUPINGA: Thank you. My question goes to the Minister of Primary and Secondary Education. It is about BEAM. A lot of schools around Zimbabwe, including my area, are struggling to operate the schools properly because most of the students at those schools are under BEAM, which has not paid for some time. Schools for persons with disabilities are also included. They are not operating to the fullest because they are not capacitated to the full since BEAM is not paying. What is the Government policy on BEAM and when are they going to pay to all the schools that are being owed by BEAM?
THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF PRIMARY AND SECONDARY EDUCATION (HON. GATA): Thank you Madam Speaker. I would like to thank the Hon. Member for a very pertinent question about BEAM. It is one of the items that ensures quality delivery of education. Regarding BEAM payments, I would like to inform the Hon. Member that BEAM payments are done from the Ministry of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare through Treasury that will fund them. So, I will direct the question to the Minister of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare.
Secondly, on special schools, I would like to inform the Hon. Member that most of the special schools have been paid. I thank you.
HON. KARIMATSENGA-NYAMUPINGA: Yes, I appreciate the Hon. Minister's response, especially the one where she said the special schools, maybe schools for persons with disabilities that they have been paid. I appreciate but only a quarter has been paid because I have been following up with several schools for persons with disabilities. I would appreciate it if the Hon. Minister would furnish this House as to when will the three quarters be paid or the certain amount again that they will pay. When will it be paid so that these schools will operate to the fullest?
THE HON. DEPUTY SPEAKER: Thank you Hon. Nyamupinga. Since your question needs some statistics, maybe you have to write it down so that the Hon. Minister will go and make some investigations and come to this House with the answer.
HON. KARIMATSENGA- NYAMUPINGA: Madam Speaker, I did not ask for statistics but I asked when. Thank you.
HON. GATA: I would like to inform the Hon. Member that I maintain that BEAM was paid to all special schools. If there is anything specific that she would like to know, can she put it in writing?
HON. SAGANDIRA: My follow-up question goes to the same Ministry. Is it possible that the transfer of resources be done directly to the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education instead of going through the Ministry of Social Welfare and then the responsible Ministry?
HON. GATA: We work as a Government and we use a whole Government approach. BEAM falls under safety nets and safety nets fall under Social Welfare. It is up to the whole of Government. I so submit.
HON. CHAKUKURA: My question is directed to the Minister of Sports. We are concerned that our national teams keep playing football outside Zimbabwe. When is the National Sports Stadium going to be ready?
THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF SPORTS, ARTS, RECREATION AND CULTURE (HON. JESAYA): I want to take this opportunity to thank Hon. Chakukura for raising that important question with regard to the National Sports Stadium. I want to inform this House that we do have ongoing work taking place at the National Sports Stadium. Installation of bucket seats is at an advanced stage as I speak today. We have received CAF officials who have come into the country to do inspections of the bucket seats that have been installed and also guide us on the way forward.
With regards to the football pitch, we are also at an advanced stage with the works that are ongoing, like I have already indicated that we do have CAF officials who have come into the country to do inspections of the works that we are ongoing. We are expecting to finish the National Sports Stadium in the third quarter of this year, ceteris paribus.
HON. MAMBIPIRI: We have heard the update from the Hon. Minister regarding the National Sports Stadium. I just want to ask whether there is a general plan to cover all the other stadiums and grounds that are there across the country in line with your usual mantra of leaving no one and no place behind.
HON. JESAYA: The main goal of our Ministry or the policy that we work with is to ensure that we provide befitting sports facilities; leaving no place and no one behind. If you have been following the news reports, the Ministry officials starting with the Minister himself, were going around with our Sports and Recreation Commission monitoring and evaluating the status of our facilities in the country.
Of note, we have been to Bulawayo where we have also done a tour of White City Stadium and we have also visited other stadiums as well including Rufaro Stadium. There are ongoing works and talks because some of these facilities fall under the purview of the local authorities. The Ministry is in touch with local authority officials so that we map a way forward, of working together to ensure that these stadiums are not only there to facilitate local matches but also get to a certain standard that is approved by CAF and international bodies for the different sports associations that are there.
In terms of the whole Government approach, we have also taken a deliberate approach to ensure that whenever we are going to have, national events, for example, Independence Day, we are going to ensure that we leave a stadium there to capacitate our youths and athletes to have somewhere where they will carry on with their sporting activities in areas and different provinces. I thank you.
HON. MARIKANO: My question is directed to the Minister of Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion. What fiscal policies or reforms is your Ministry implementing to stimulate economic growth, creation of jobs and reduction of poverty in Zimbabwe?
THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF FINANCE, ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND INVESTMENT PROMOTION (HON. D. K. MNANGAGWA): Government policy in terms of economic development and employment creation is enshrined in the National Development Strategy. There are different parameters and matrices that we follow as a Ministry to ensure that we reach an upper middle-income society by 2030. What that means is, when the Minister comes here or the RBZ Governor mentions issues to do with macro-economic stability trying to maintain a GDP of 5% or above, these are some of the measures that will make sure that we are on track to reach that upper-middle-income society status.
When we talk of an upper middle-income society, we are looking both at quantitative and qualitative factors. You look at your gross national input of between 4000 to 12000, but this is to translate to the ordinary Zimbabwean and not just be a number metric. You find that from a whole of Government approach in reaching this upper-middle-income status, we make sure that there is a redistributive effect. Henceforth, when we come to Parliament with a tax policy, you will find that a lot of these are aimed at redistributing mostly from the haves to the have-nots, increasing our social safety nets just to make sure that we close that gap. In addition, we as well give incentives in areas where we believe investors both Zimbabweans and foreigners would want to come in to create new industries and new jobs. These are areas that maybe we will have a bit of laxity when it comes to taxing. I would say in general, looking at our five-year national strategy which is now going into the second five years, we are on track in terms of employment creation, economic development and various other aspects of our 14 pillars. I thank you.
HON. MATEWU: Madam Speaker, for us to reach an upper middle-class economy, our currency must be acceptable to us, not just to us but to those that we do trade with. Our trade deficit is so huge. We import so much that we export and our currency, for me to go to any other country, I would need to load a US dollar into a Visa card. What are you doing to ensure that our currency is stable to a point that it is acceptable all over the world; unless we do that, we will not get to an upper middle-class economy? I thank you.
HON. K. D. MNANGAGWA: I think the Honourable Member mentioned a few items that might need correction. He mentioned a wide trade deficit but by any measure, I looked at a very small trade deficit. I think a narrative is always important, especially when we seek to market our country and our currency. One needs to understand that Zimbabwe as a country, when it comes to foreign currency earnings, it actually does much better than countries with a GDP that is four times our size. What this means is that when it comes to foreign currency and trade, let us tell our story in the right manner.
The Hon. Member speaks about stability and speaks to it as if it is an event. I would like to point out the last few months and one, looking with an objective eye, can see that the parallel exchange rates and the official rates are thinning. There has not been a huge increase in the parallel market rates, which is the one that we usually look at to see what the market activity is saying. Acceptability of the currency is something that when you go into the market, a lot of people actually complain that there is not enough ZiG within the market. So, you wonder where this lack of acceptability is coming from…
HON. MATEWU: On a point of order Madam Speaker. The Minister is probably answering a question I did not ask. When I said acceptability, I meant not in Zimbabwe but across the world to countries that we trade with. It is not acceptable. I am not talking about here in Zimbabwe. I am talking about countries that we trade with. Thank you.
HON. K. D. MNANGAGWA: I am not sure where the Hon. Member wants ZiG to work except for Zimbabwe. Our local currency is meant to be used within Zimbabwean borders. When I mention our export receipts and having enough US dollar, it means that as a country we should be able to use our local currency within Zimbabwe and when we want to trade outside of Zimbabwe, we exchange for the currency in that country. I am not sure if the Hon. Member wants to use ZiG in Russia, the US and China but the premise...
THE HON. DEPUTY SPEAKER: Hon. Matewu, please may we have order in the House. You cannot shout whilst the Minister is responding, that is very unprocedural. We are not supposed to be pointing fingers to the Minister.
HON. K. D. MNANGAGWA: The reason it is our local currency is because it is for local transactions. If we have foreign traders who want to do business and transact in Zimbabwe, they can bring in their currency, exchange it for the ZiG and trade locally. This is the common practice. I am not sure how and where the question arises from the Hon. Member in this particular context but I would like to say that ZiG fully works in Zimbabwe and we should not expect it to be used in any other country. It is our local currency
HON. MATINENGA: My supplementary question to the Deputy Minister is, you mentioned that we are moving because of the tax policies we have and we are moving towards a good trajectory. Can you enlighten this House in terms of the tangible issues that show that we are moving towards a positive trajectory in terms of our economy? Thank you.
HON. K. D. MNANGAGWA: I think the question is too broad. The Hon. Member asks us to enunciate and list the initiatives that show what the Government is doing well. I think we would have to go through all the ministries, all the initiatives and all the projects that the Government is doing. This is where it translates; Treasury, the Ministry of Finance, it is the fiscal authority that comes up with tax policy. We come up with an economic development plan and strategy which then filters through all the different ministries. The point is not to paint a perfect picture. It is to paint a story of a journey and along this journey, we have different markers and trackers that we look at. These are the ones that inform us that indeed we are on the right track, in accordance with our strategy.
*HON. MHETU: Vision 2030 was launched in October 2013. We are now left with five years to get to where we aim to go. Upper-middle income, we are looking at salaries of 4,500 monthly. So, right now, where are we? Are there any people earning 4,500 per month? Thank you.
*THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF FINANCE, ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND INVESTMENT PROMOTION (HON. D. K. MNANGAGWA): As I earlier on said, when we talk of Vision 2030, it is a journey that we are travelling up to 2030. The Hon. Member said we started in 2018, 2019 and 2020. We had TSP, which was the Transitional Stabilisation Plan and mainly focused on good expenditure. From 2021 to 2025, we are in National Development Strategy 1, which looks at Vision 2030. That has three programmes, TSP and NDS1, which is coming to an end and National Development Strategy 2, which will start in 2026 to 2030. According to the vision of the President, we are focusing on getting there and we expect to get there and achieve it successfully.
*HON. KARUMAZONDO: My question is directed to the Minister of ICT. In the absence of the Minister, I direct it to the Leader of Government and Business. I would like to thank the Minister of ICT for doing a good job in uplifting the issue of transmission and network coverage.
Indeed, you are moving in line with the mantra of leaving no one and no place behind. You introduced Star Link to complement those efforts. My question is with regard to network coverage or transmission. What plans do you have to ensure that ZiG is included? When it comes to airtime, juice cards are only available in US dollars and not in ZiG or the local currency on the streets. What plans do you have to ensure that local currency is also included in the trade of airtime?
THE MINISTER OF JUSTICE, LEGAL AND PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS (HON. Z. ZIYAMBI:) This is my first time hearing about that because in this country, we are using multi-currency, which means we also have ZiG, US dollar, Pula or Rands. We can accept any curNo sector is that is only allowed to trade in foreign currency and not accepting the local currency. The Ministry of Finance is here and they are hearing for themselves that the telecommunication companies are misbehaving. However, when I buy airtime, I use local currency. I am just wondering why the scratch cards are not denominated in the local currency but we will look into that and investigate to ascertain the truth. If they are doing it, they must rectify that and they must not do that.
HON. P. DUBE: My supplementary question is, what is Government policy regarding citizens or traders who refuse to accept torn or worn-out ZiG currency notes in our country?
HON. Z. ZIYAMBI: Madam Speaker, this is a totally unrelated question to the original. If the Hon. Member wants to know about that, the relevant Minister is here. He must ask it in a relevant segment. I cannot find a connection between torn notes and non-acceptance of our currency as a follow-up question. I submit.
*HON. KUKA: Madam Speaker. My supplementary question is, we heard the Hon. Minister saying that he sometimes gets an opportunity to buy airtime in the local currency in ZiG. My question is, what are Government plans to ensure that the airtime is also denominated in the local currency because at the moment, it is only denominated in U.S. dollar?
HON. Z. ZIYAMBI: I am not sure I am following what the Hon. Member is trying to say. The original question was, there is non-acceptance of ZiG, which is our local currency. The Member is now saying, it is written U.S. dollar. The original question was about non-acceptance of ZiG, so this cannot be a follow-up question to the original question.
THE HON. DEPUTY SPEAKER: Hon. Leader of Government Business, please may you respond to the question?
HON. Z. ZIYAMBI: My response Madam Speaker, is that the question is not related unless Madam. Speaker, you then indicate to me how it is related. That is the first point.
The second point Madam. Speaker – [HON. MEMBERS: Inaudible interjections.] - Government does not set a policy on how traders...
THE HON. DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order!
HON. HWENDE: On a point of order.
THE HON. DEPUTY SPEAKER: What is your point of
order? – [HON. MEMBERS: Inaudible interjections.] -
HON. HWENDE: Thank you very much Madam Speaker. In terms of our rules, once the Speaker has ruled, the Minister must follow the ruling of the Speaker and the Speaker has already ruled that the Minister must answer the question by the Member of Parliament.
It follows that he cannot contest the decision of the Speaker. Can we follow the rules, please? - [HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear.] -
HON. Z. ZIYAMBI: Madam Speaker, an airtime card is written with specific instructions at the back. The Hon. Member wants the Minister to stand up and interrogate what is written as if that is the policy of Government. I think we are taking it too far. If he wants that, he can put that in writing. The Minister can then submit it to the relevant telecom provider to say what you have written here, can you explain further? For Hon. Members, who have been elected and know very well that this is a segment for policy, to request me to interrogate what is written on the back of an airtime card, I think is taking it too far.
HON. T. MUDOWO: My question is directed to the Hon. Minister of Health and Child Care. What is the Government policy regarding the recruiting process in the Ministry of Health and Child Care? I understand some of them are being charged USD1300 or such amounts. I thank you.
THE HON. DEPUTY SPEAKER: Is the Hon. Minister or Deputy Minister of Health and Child Care in the House?
THE MINISTER OF JUSTICE, LEGAL AND PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS (HON. Z. ZIYAMBI): Thank you Madam Speaker. We do not have a policy as enunciated by the Hon. Member. If he can put that in writing so that the Hon. Minister can follow up on that particular nursing institution that is charging, I submit.
HON. JAMES: Thank you, Madam Speaker. My question this afternoon is to the Hon. Minister of Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion or the Deputy, as the case may be.
It has been a month now since the CFU and the ARIC Presidency were hoping to meet with you. Are you still receptive or are we to presume your policy is to deal with only the previous CFU Presidency and his team? Are you also comfortable with dealing with those who are only now trying to legitimise themselves into an association, having lost the mandate of the majority of the original title deed holders? Thank you.
THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF FINANCE, ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND INVESTMENT PROMOTION (HON. D. K. MNANGAGWA): Thank you Madam Speaker. I am not entirely sure if the Hon. Member is asking about scheduling engagements in terms of meeting with the Hon. Minister. I would think these are social and administrative issues between the Minister of Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion and negotiating partners.
The policies are very clear Madam Speaker. If we import negotiations into Parliament, then they cease to be negotiations. I am not entirely sure what the context of the question that is coming from the Hon. Member is, Madam Speaker. Maybe to just answer, the Government is always willing to engage and to interact. I would say that is our response as Government. I thank you Madam Speaker.
HON. JAMES: Supplementary question Madam Speaker.
THE HON. DEPUTY SPEAKER: Supplementary, please go ahead.
HON. JAMES: Thank you Madam Speaker. I am asking the Ministry if they are receptive to meeting the new CFU presidency who have the mandate and they have been trying to meet with the Ministry officials but have been pushed aside continuously. Documentation has been given to the Ministry asking for a meeting and the Ministry has responded to it, but as yet, no date has been set.
We understand that the Ministry is always available, the doors are always open, but apparently, this one is not open.
HON. TAFANANA ZHOU: Point of order Madam Speaker.
THE HON. DEPUTY PRESIDENT: What is your point of order?
HON. TAFANANA ZHOU: Madam Speaker Ma’am, the Hon. Member cannot come here to negotiate for appointments with Hon. Ministers. He must go to their offices to seek appointments with the Hon. Ministers.
An Hon. Member having stood to raise a point of privilege.
THE HON. DEPUTY SPEAKER: You cannot rise on a point of privilege whilst I am yet to give a ruling to what the Hon. Member has raised. – [HON. MEMBER: It was important with your indulgence, Madam Speaker.]- Hon. Member, please may you take your seat? Hon. James, what is your supplementary question? Please raise your voice.
HON. JAMES: Thank you, Madam Speaker. To answer the Hon. Member across there, I am not negotiating. I am merely trying to find out whether the Ministry is still receptive to meet the people who want to negotiate this issue. It appears that the Ministry is dealing with people that do not have the mandate to negotiate on the title deed holder's behalf.
THE HON. DEPUTY SPEAKER: I am sorry Hon. James, that you cannot ask such type of a question. It is not a policy question.
HON. JAMES: Madam Speaker, it is a policy question. I asked if the Ministry has a policy for meeting with these people and apparently, it does not have a policy.
THE HON. DEPUTY SPEAKER: I am sure the Hon. Minister has already answered on that.
HON. A. ZIYAMBI: Thank you Madam Speaker. My question is directed to the Minister of Mines and Mining Development.
There are a lot of people in this country who have applied for mining licences so that they can get mining rights. Those people have not been given those certificates so they get exclusive rights to mine. So, my question is, what is Government's position with regard to the processing of mining licences so that people can access their mining certificates? Thank you.
THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF MINES AND MINING DEVELOPMENT (HON. KAMBAMURA): Thank you very much, Madam Speaker. I would like to thank Hon. Ziyambi for the question. Thank you Honourable Speaker.. I would like to thank Hon. Ziyambi for the question.
It is true that there are a lot of people who have applied for mining titles but they have not received their mining rights. It is because we have been having some challenges. As a Ministry, we have sat down and agreed that we are going to set up some teams which are going around the provinces to clear those backlogs. We have started with some provinces and we will be coming to Mashonaland West early this coming month so that we clear the backlogs. May the Hon. Member be patient with us as we do this exercise? Thank you Honourable Speaker.
HON. MUTOKONYI: Thank you Hon. Speaker. My supplementary question to the Minister is on the artisanal miners. In terms of regularisation, what is the Ministry doing to ensure that the artisanal miners who are already mining are regularised to ensure that they are complying with the laws? I thank you.
HON. KAMBAMURA: Thank you Hon. Member for the question. The first level of formalisation is being registered. So, every artisanal miner should be formally registered with the Ministry of Mines. We are also conducting some awareness campaigns to encourage small-scale miners to register with the Ministry. Our department which deals with inspections is teaming up with the Ministry of Environment so that we build a strong inspectorate team that will be going around to check on compliance. We are also issuing out some penalties to those that will be found on the other side of the law and we will be revoking the mining rights till the miner complies with legislation. I thank you.
HON. MASVISVI: My question is directed to the Minister of Lands, Agriculture, Water, Fisheries and Rural Resettlement. The question is basically on smart agroecology systems support. What is Government policy regarding the boosting of funding for research in agroecology practice and indigenous seed production?
THE MINISTER OF JUSTICE, LEGAL AND PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS (HON. Z. ZIYAMBI): Thank you Madam Speaker. I want to thank the Hon. Member for the question. We have a policy of ensuring that we continuously develop our seed varieties to ensure that we increase productivity. However, I would urge the Hon. Member to put his question in writing because of the nature of the question so that they can respond specifically to what he wants to appreciate in terms of research regarding our seeds. I thank you.
+HON. S. MAHLANGU: Thank you Madam Speaker. My question is directed to the Minister of Labour and Social Welfare. We know that the Minister is paying BEAM for some students to be in school. What is Government policy pertaining to uniforms and books, especially for the orphans and vulnerable students on BEAM?
THE MINISTER OF JUSTICE, LEGAL AND PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS (HON. Z. ZIYAMBI): Thank you Hon. Member for the important question where you want to find out what happens to the learners whose school fees are paid by BEAM but they do not have the other requirements such as school uniforms and books. The policy is to support our indigent learners so that they can learn with adequate resources. That is the general policy. My request would be to ask the Hon. Member to put that question in writing and specifically indicate that we have learners who are getting support in terms of tuition fees but other essentials like uniforms and textbooks are not there, so that the Minister can respond with full knowledge of what is happening to that specific area. I so submit.
ANNOUNCEMENT BY THE HON. DEPUTY SPEAKER
APOLOGIES RECEIVED FROM MINISTERS
THE HON. DEPUTY SPEAKER: I have received apologies from the Executive as follows: Hon. Gen. Rtd. Dr. C.D.G.N. Chiwenga, Vice President; Hon. Col. Rtd. K.C.D. Mohadi, Hon. T. Machakaire, Minister of Youth Empowerment, Development and Vocational Training; Hon. B. Rwodzi, Minister of Tourism and Hospitality; Hon. Prof. Dr. A. Murwira, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Trade; Hon Kazembe Kazembe, Minister of Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage; Hon. J. Muswere, Minister of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services; Hon. E. Moyo, Minister of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare; Hon. M. N. Ndlovu, Minister of Industry and Commerce; Hon. F Mhona, Minister of Transport and Infrastructural Development; Hon. Dr. Mombeshora, Minister of Health and Child Care ; Hon. Rtd Brig. Gen. Mayihlome, Deputy Minister of Defence; Hon. C. Sanyatwe, Deputy Minister of Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage; Hon. Dinha, Deputy Minister of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare; Hon. Simbanegavi, Deputy Minister of Energy and Power Development; Hon. M. Ncube, Deputy Minister of National Housing and Social Amenities; Hon. V. Haritatos, Deputy Minister of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Resettlement; Hon. Marapira, Deputy Minister of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Resettlement;
HON. MPASI: My question is directed to the Minister of Lands. What is Government policy regarding the de-siltation of rivers particularly in rural and farming communities?
THE HON. DEPUTY SPEAKER: Hon. Mpasi, that question has been asked several times.
HON. MPASI: Thank you, I think I was not around.
HON. KANGAUSARU: Good afternoon Madam Speaker. Greetings from Hurungwe. My question is directed to the Minister of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs. What is the Government policy on the maximum permissible period an accused can remain on remand? I thank you.
THE MINISTER OF JUSTICE, LEGAL AND PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS (HON. Z. ZIYAMBI): Thank you Madam Speaker. The answer to that question is, until the trial is over.
HON. P. DUBE: Thank you very much Madam Speaker. My question is directed to the Minister of Energy and Power Development. Given the need to have adequate energy as a country so that industry and commerce can function properly, what is Government policy in supporting independent power producers who are investing in energy generation in our country? Thank you very much.
THE MINISTER OF ENERGY AND POWER DEVELOPMENT (HON. J. MOYO): Thank you Madam Speaker. I want to thank Hon. Dube for the question. Our power generation is in support of our strategy for industrialisation and all sectors of the economy. We strive to have a supply system that is greater than our demand. However, at present our supply is less than our demand. That is why occasionally you see load shedding. The aim is to make sure that we bring in independent power producers who can supplement what the Government is doing. So far, we have a number of independent power producers. Some of them in solar and others in many hydro schemes. Others have gone even further by having off-grid power systems so that we localise the production of electricity to cater to certain industries that are needed.
In addition to independent power producers, we have what we call captive power producers. These are the people who have big industries and they have been encouraged by Government policy to say, why did you not generate electricity for yourselves? A lot of them are now generating electricity for their own use. We call these captive power producers. Some of the big mines like Ngezi and some of the industries like Dinson are now producing their own power. When they have excess power, they send it into the grid because the policy of Government is net metering or if you have your own power and you have excess, you can sell it to the power grid which is ZESA. So, even small houses can also start having their own solar systems and if they have excess power, they can sell to the grid.
At present, we have 33 megawatts which are coming from homesteads, those who have enough of their own solar for their own use but have excess and they are now selling to the power grid. We hope that ZESA will continue to encourage house owners to sell back what they cannot use. We also think Zimbabwe has a lot of capacity to increase from the present 33 megawatts to over 100 megawatts just from people who have installed solar systems and other systems that produce power such as biogas and biomass. We encourage them to do so.
If they are wind producers, independent, they also can sell to the National Grid. We welcome all this so that we can supply enough power to our industries, agriculture, mining, tourism and the other social sectors of this economy. I thank you Madam Speaker.
HON. P. DUBE: I have a supplementary question. Hon. Minister, would you clarify how simple is the permitting process for those who are interested in power generation in our country to follow the process? This is because we continue to experience an energy shortage in our country. How simple is the process in terms of following up so that at least those who are interested in energy generation in our country can simply follow the process and therefore independently produce energy and supply to the grid and perhaps also supply to their own needs? Thank you.
HON. J. MOYO: Thank you, Madam Speaker. I want to thank the Hon. Member. These are very important questions that need clarification. I think in our process, Government has laid down a very simple process. When you want to do power generation, for instance, you go to ZERA to get a license. Once you get that license, or even inclusive of when you are getting that license, you can also go to ZESA so that you can get a power purchase agreement. That power purchase agreement is predicated on the fact that you will have done a grid impact assessment.
That grid impact assessment is done jointly by the proponent of the person who wants to invest in power generation and ZESA itself so that we can see what you are going to produce at a certain location, there is enough substations or transformers for it to accept what you are producing. This has been done for so many companies. What we are lacking is not the process of getting a licence or getting a grid impact assessment or getting a power purchase agreement on our desk.
We review this all the time. We have over 50 companies that have been given these issues. What they are failing to get is financial closure and we have been working with the Ministry of Finance, with the Reserve Bank to say, why are we not getting financial closure? So, some of the guarantees that the independent power producers have been asking for, have been given by both the Ministry of Finance and the Reserve Bank. We have been saying to other people, if you want to check whether it is working, why do you not go to those who are already in the market to see how they have done it. The Ministry of Finance as well as the Reserve Bank will guarantee you to externalise if you have borrowed money from outside, your loans will be paid.
If you want your dividends to be paid, your dividends will be paid. Those guarantees have been given by both the Ministry of Finance and the Reserve Bank. We think that going forward, for those who are struggling to get financial closure and need assistance, we can even take them to the Governor of the Reserve Bank as we have done with others who have been struggling to get financial closure. They cannot convince their financiers.
We have taken them back to the Reserve Bank and the Reserve Bank Governor has been able to give them these guarantees in our presence so that we eliminate this issue of we will not be able to pay our loans or we will not be able to externalise our dividends. So, we are doing everything to make sure that independent power producers are actually investing in this electricity and other energy sources. I thank you, Madam Speaker.
*HON. S. TSHUMA: Thank you Madam Speaker. My supplementary question is looking at the problem of power supply. We want to encourage independent power producers if they can produce extra electricity that they use and they are free to share into the National Grid. What is the Minister doing to ensure that they are paid for the electricity that they put into the grid? This is because some of them no longer use electricity. They are generating inadequate electricity. So, if you are going to use their electricity, you offset each other with what they are now giving you. Since we are no longer getting from ZESA, what is the Government planning to ensure that they are paid for the electricity they are supplying? I thank you.
HON. J. MOYO: Thank you, Hon. Tshuma. It is a very important question. I mentioned two things. If you generate solar energy be it at your home or your business premise, if you want to take your electricity to ZESA it is called net metering. It means when they supply you with electricity, they are now going to do net metering.
Secondly, if you want to just generate electricity and sell to ZESA, you get a licence to sell to ZESA and you earn money for that because you go in advance to ZESA and apply to supply them with electricity. You are given power purchase agreement. So that is where we agree that you sell us at such an amount, be it 8 cents or 10 cents kilowatt per hour. It is different from net metering. I thank you.
HON. BAJILA: Thank you Madam Speaker. The Minister has made it quite clear what those with power purchase agreements will get but my question is with respect to those who want to do net metering from their homes. Do they get repaid in terms of money or in terms of electricity consumption at a future time? I thank you.
*HON. J. MOYO: Thank you Madam Speaker. I said with net metering if you have extra power, they give you the gadgets for you to bring back that electricity. It is different from those who generate electricity specifically to supply to ZESA for sale, be it at your homestead or your farm. The difference is ZESA would have already installed power lines and they expect that you will also be using ZESA's electricity so that the difference is compared, whether you owe ZESA a lot or ZESA owes you and you get the difference. Do we understand each other? Net metering is for you to sell what you do not need to use but you are also connected to ZESA and because ZESA sends it to you then they see who owes who and it is not the same as an independent power producer who goes to ZESA and says I want to sell power. That is it and not for my own use. I thank you
HON. BUTAU: Madam Speaker, my question is directed to the Minister of Foreign Trade and International Relations. I wanted to find out having noted that there has been an increase in both mining and agricultural production, how far Zimbabwe has progressed in terms of developing a most favoured nation status with the Chinese Government? Thank you.
THE MINISTER OF JUSTICE, LEGAL AND PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS (HON. Z. ZIYAMBI): Thank you Madam Speaker. Can the Hon. Member rephrase the question? I did not get the exact question.
THE HON. DEPUTY SPEAKER: Hon. Butau, may you rephrase your question?
HON. BUTAU: Madam Speaker, Most Favoured Nation Status is an international policy framework that allows you to balance the presence of your own industrial players in a country that has invested more in your country. In this case, we have a huge number of both Chinese players in agriculture and mining. So we should, say in the case of tobacco, be allowed to market or produce our cigarettes directly in China which will lower our cost and increase the profit of Zimbabwean tobacco companies. That is called Most Favoured Nation Status. It is a policy framework found in WTO which was formerly GATT and when GATT was formed most African countries were not yet independent. We therefore did not participate in the framework that is now running the world trade. Thank you thank.
HON. Z. ZIYAMBI: Thank you Madam Speaker. I am thankful for the clarification that has been given by the Hon. Member. Madam Speaker, my response is that this requires a lot of statistical analysis so that you can interrogate and reach a stage where you can say in terms of our trading, we have reached this level and on that basis can we then advance to this Most Favourable Status that he is talking about. My suggestion is it is a very critical and important question which I urge the Hon. Member to put in writing so that it can be interrogated and the Ministry be able now to interrogate the figures to see where we stand in terms of our trade with the Chinese. I thank you Madam Speaker and I want to thank the Hon. Member for the question.
HON. BUTAU: Thank you Madam Speaker. I will put the question in writing.
HON. SIHLABO: Thank you Madam Speaker. My question goes to the Minister of Energy and Power Development. Minister, acknowledging that the maintenance of the power lines by ZESA is currently way behind due to various reasons, can the Minister advise the House on the sector's policy regarding redress to the members of the public who can be electrocuted, killed or maimed due to power lines lying on the ground for a long period of time and what guidelines are used to arrive to settlements, if there are any?
THE MINISTER OF ENERGY AND POWER DEVELOPMENT (HON. J. MOYO): Madam Speaker, I want to thank the Hon. Member for this very important question. Our power lines have mainly been of wood and that wood because of the rains that we have had, most of them or a lot of them have fallen and we are aware of it. Unfortunately, because of our communication system that has been also affected through Powertel, we need all of us to inform ZESA about power lines that are lying on the ground. I know a number of MPs who have come back to me and said, do you know that there is a power line that is that has been disabled in that area and can you assist? Every time that I have been told and told ZESA, they have been able to assist. So we need more information on this and unfortunately, that information has to come from individuals rather than using a system of knowing how or monitoring all the power lines in the country.
Secondly, we have also made a policy decision to say let us move away from using poles and using concrete poles that sent the Zimbabwe Enterprise Development which is a subsidiary of ZESA, is now engaged and we monitor every week how much they are producing so that we can replace the dead wood that has fallen with concrete systems. Going forward, we are also going to partner with Dinson and I think that approval of Dinson producing steel towers including those which are where we are using poles has been reached. There is also an agreement that Dinson and ZENT will also be putting a plant in ZENT area here in Harare for galvanising so that Zimbabwe will not import steel towers anymore once this starts working and we hope by the end of this year we will start to see that happening.
Your question about how to compensate, I do not have the answers to how that compensation has been taking place and I would welcome a written question from you so that I can go and start investigating and give you the answers. I thank you.
HON. MAZHINDU: My supplementary question is, what does ZESA have in place to secure their equipment, cables or other equipment? Some companies secure their equipment but ZESA just leaves it unattended. Thank you.
HON. J. G. MOYO: Yes, there is a lot of vandalism, there is a lot of theft, especially transformers and taking transformer oil and in some cases taking copper wires. ZESA is trying to move away from copper wires to aluminium so that we can stagger off these thieves who are a menace to society and the responsibility to look after this whole network, that is, ZESA by policing throughout the system is not an easy task. We are trying to say maybe ZESA should go electronic, they should go to other forms of monitoring other than using warm bodies, human beings. This discussion is going on in Government, not only for ZESA but also using other security organisations that are in the country so that people do not suffer because of transformers being stolen. You go and replace it, that one is stolen the next week and that has become a menace.
Other organisations do not have the extensive network that ZESA has. I think if you think of infrastructure, except for the old PTC, there is no extensive infrastructure that is interconnected that can cause problems more than what ZESA has in the country. So security for all this requires all of us to be alert and where we have gone and when this has happened you see that. I know that when you analyse, the people end up saying ZESA people are doing it but there are a lot of people who are no longer working for ZESA who have technology, knowledge and can cause harm to the system and policing them is a much more difficult thing. I call upon Hon. Members to continue to report the way you have been doing through ZESA communication system. We are trying to make sure that they publicise where you can report so that we can see our reaction to try to fix what is really a menace in terms of theft in the ZESA enterprises. I thank you Madam Speaker.
HON. ENG. MHANGWA: Thank you Madam Speaker. I wanted some point of clarity from the Minister. The Hon. Minister while responding to Hon. Sihlabo, mentioned that we are moving from wood to concrete. Is this a change in policy? Ideally, the reason why the standards have concrete in urban areas and wood in rural areas is to manage costs and ideally, wood if the change of poles that are well treated are kept, rains do not make poles fall. Poles fall because there is a cyclone or extreme weather pattern. If maintenance is done regularly as it should, wood has integrity to do all it should do without an extra cost to the people. So there is a need for that clarity before we jump on the change of standards. I so submit.
HON. J. G. MOYO: We are very clear that we want to move from wood. It is not only a question of being treated so that it can last longer but wood is an environmental issue that we need to protect in this country and concrete is better for our use. So, we are very clear about that movement. Yes, wood can continue to be used in some areas but we want to move to steel and we want to move to concrete. Thank you.
HON. NYATHI: I want to find out from the Hon. Minister the turnaround time in terms of transformer replacement where they are stolen, transformer or cables where they are stolen or damaged. We have seen citizens going for over three months without any replacement of transformers or cables. Can the Minister explain to us what is the turnaround time and what the citizens should do should that time elapse before ZESA comes to rectify the problem? I thank you.
HON. J. G. MOYO: I think the turnaround time depends on where the transformer is and the availability of that transformer in the country or in ZESA. If we are going to order it from somewhere else, I cannot tell. If the Hon. Member can alert us to certain areas where it has taken long and we can give reasons but at the same time, try as much as possible to shorten that timeframe. But, I cannot give an average timeframe of the turnaround time because it depends on where the transformers are when it happens and whether we have something to replace immediately. I thank you.
HON. MAONEKE: My question is directed to the Minister of Primary and Secondary Education. Can we integrate AI into our education curriculum, especially because of the risks it poses to both national and human security, bearing in mind such risks as economic displacement where we see AI replacing jobs?
THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF PRIMARY AND SECONDARY EDUCATION (HON. GATA): Let me thank Hon. Maoneke for a suggestion question. In education policy, AI is provided for. We cannot escape artificial intelligence because that is where the world is going. It is incorporated into our education curriculum. However, the use of AI, like you mentioned there is the threat of losing jobs, there is a threat in our cultural norms - there are pros and cons to AI. We will be very vigilant in using it so that it works for us. I thank you.
*HON. CHIGUMBU: My supplementary question to the Minister is that when you are going to incorporate AI lessons, there must be digitisation background or platforms? What is the policy with regards to teaching children the basics because as you incorporate AI, there must be a background education to it instead of just putting it from nowhere?
*HON. GATA: It is true that artificial intelligence must be incorporated into the education curriculum. It is incorporated under the subject of ICT which is available in all our schools. The question is, where should it be based on? The artificial intelligence comes because of the gadgets we are continuously supplying to the schools. We may not have supplied all the schools but it is our wish and the plan of the Ministry to ensure that every learner has a gadget. Since we cannot supply every child with a gadget, it does not mean that the child cannot be taught. I thank you.
HON. JONGA: My question is directed to the Minister of Energy and Power Development. Given the progress in the Government’s efforts to boost wheat production, how ready is ZESA to supply farmers with adequate energy requirements?
THE MINISTER OF ENERGY AND POWER DEVELOPMENT (HON. J. MOYO): I want to thank the Hon. Member for asking such an important question regarding our ability to produce wheat for our own use and being able to export. The Minister of Lands and Agriculture has been able to put before Cabinet, the expectations of wheat production for this coming season. After presenting the hectarage that is needed, the Hon. Minister was also able to say what are the enablers and one of the major enablers is the supply of electricity to farmers. In the Ministry of Energy, we have been saying to ourselves, how do we make sure that supply is consistent and is not disrupted?
We have two issues that we have come up with. We hope that a lot of the farmers who are going to grow wheat or who are already growing wheat, have secured loans from the financial system and those financial systems have been advised to say when you advance monies for wheat production, that is, for buying seed or fertilizer, also advance for pre-paid metering so that the farmers are assured that they will have supply of electricity and they have paid for it. Then, it behooves ZESA to make sure that they do not disrupt these farmers who have pre-paid.
ZESA has taken steps obviously to increase on the supply side. We are facing challenges but I am assured by ZESA that despite the fact that we have some challenges at Hwange and Kariba, water levels at Kariba have been increasing from below 7% to over 16% of the dam levels. We are now confident that Zimbabwe Water Authority and the Zambezi Water Authority will be able to increase what it allows both ZESA here in Zimbabwe and ZESCO to increase their production of electricity. At present, we are targeting to produce 485 megawatts but we are allowed to play around that figure in order to support farmers.
Last week we were producing from Kariba about 700 megawatts. We think that with tight management, we can assure wheat growers that they will not be switched off. So, that we reach the targets that have been agreed upon by Cabinet and announced to the populace that we are going to have wheat production more than sufficient for our own use and be able to export. I thank you.
*HON. MAPIKI: My supplementary question is, when wheat is about to boot, transformers are usually stolen or sometimes get broken. Now it becomes a critical stage where you cannot start looking for those transformers at that time. Are there any plans in place to ensure that there are alternative measures to replace those on time? I thank you.
THE MINISTER OF ENERGY AND POWER DEVELOPMENT (HON. J. MOYO): Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir. It is a very important question. If you saw what happened in Harare 10 days ago, when a transformer in Highfields was stolen, ZESA managed to get another transformer which was on standby. ZESA will be able to attend to those problems as a matter of urgency because of the importance of wheat. I am not sure whether they have transformers on standby and where that accident will take place but we hope ZESA will be prepared to attend to those accidents or unforeseen circumstances. I thank you.
*HON. MHETU: My supplementary question Mr. Speaker is with regards to wheat that needs a lot of electricity as well as domestic use of electricity. I looked at Xiluodu Dam which is in China, Dniester Dam in Ukraine and Revelstoke Dam in Canada. I saw that those dams are very small compared to Kariba Dam….
*THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER (HON. J. TSHUMA): I said go to your question straight without moving in circles.
*HON. MHETU: My question to the Hon. Minister is, why are we getting little electricity from Kariba Dam when other countries with smaller dams generate as much as 2,400 megawatts? It means Kariba can power the whole of Zimbabwe without deficiencies. I thank you.
*THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: Your question is lost Hon. Mhetu. The first question was, how is the Ministry of Energy or Government prepared to supply electricity for wheat production? If you are now talking about dams in China, it becomes a problem.
*HON. MHETU: My point of clarity is that the Minister referred to Kariba Dam when he was responding. He said, 700 megawatts we share between Zimbabwe and Zambia, yet, we have countries with smaller dams getting more electricity such as 2,400 megawatts. So, what is Government policy in ensuring that we get more electricity generated from Kariba so that the farmers can benefit as well for domestic use?
HON. J. MOYO: Thank you Mr. Speaker. The expertise that was involved in dam construction, as well as power generation, has since improved so much that they can now generate more electricity from less water. If you look at the expansion of Hwange as well as the big size of Batoka, it will be less than Kariba. Kariba will generate more electricity. We did not look into China, Canada or elsewhere but the Government led by the President, sent the Vice President to Tajikistan. Indeed, from what you are saying, they construct smaller dams and yet generate more electricity from that. So, if we are looking at dams where there is more water, can we get that technology to ensure that we generate more electricity from those small dams, that are Government plans? I thank you.
HON. JAMES: As a means of assisting continuity of electricity supply to the agricultural sector and the rest for that matter, would the Minister lobby the Minister of Finance to lift the VAT restrictions on new installations. This could go a long way in encouraging people to invest in this area. Thank you.
THE MINISTER OF ENERGY AND POWER DEVELOPMENT (HON. J. MOYO): I am very thankful for the advice to go and lobby our lobby.
*HON. CHIDUWA: Thank you Mr. Speaker, sir. My question is directed to the Minister of Mines and Mining Development. I have heard that there is an exploration of gas and oil in Lupane and Muzarabani areas. What is the Government policy in updating the nation on where we are with regard to the exploration results? Specifically, I am looking at the communication of exploration and the development of such explorations. I submit.
THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF MINES AND MINING DEVELOPMENT RESPONSIBLE FOR OIL AND GAS RESEARCH AND OTHER STRATEGIC MINERALS EXPLORATION (HON. DR. MAKWIRANZOU): Thank you Hon. Speaker Sir. I want to thank Hon. Chiduwa for asking such an incisive question. As far as oil and gas are concerned, perhaps I can explain the issue with Muzarabani. We have done some boreholes in Muzarabani. The first borehole is called Mukuyu 1 and the second one is Mukuyu 2. We now have evidence. We have samples that show that we have hydrocarbons in Muzarabani.
The Hon. Member will know that mining consists of basically five issues. The first one is that we have to explore. We have done the exploration. The second one is that we have to discover and we have discovered that there is oil and gas in Muzarabani. What we now need to do is, we need to have a contract with the person who wants to invest in Muzarabani. This contract is called Petroleum Production Share Agreement (PPSA).
Currently, we are negotiating with Geo Associates and Invictus who are in Muzarabani to try and agree on the terms of their exploitation of the mineral. This will ensure that there is transparency and that there is a legal and physical framework and that indeed, there is fair value sharing. This is what is now happening in Muzarabani.
The second question was general. It was just talking about gas. Yes, in Lupane there and in Matabeleland North, we have some boreholes which we have done. These boreholes also show that there is gas in that area. We will also follow that same route. After exploration, we will discover. After discovery, we will exploit. After exploiting, we will process. After processing, we will market the asset.
HON. CHIDUWA: I have a supplementary question. The Hon. Minister mentioned the petroleum agreements and the petroleum production sharing agreements. Normally, these agreements require high expertise. I want to find out from the Hon. Minister how prepared you are as a Ministry to make sure that such agreements are going to benefit us as a country?
HON. DR. MAKWIRANZOU: Indeed, oil and gas are new to us. We have been talking to experts. In particular, we have been talking to a group which is called the African Legal Support Facility (ALSF). ALSF has a model which we call PEDPA, which means Petroleum Exploration Development and Production Agreement. It is a model. They also have a petroleum toolkit. As I speak, some of our directors are actually in Victoria Falls learning how best we can do the agreements. In fact, the first thing will be the legislation, because it is new to us.
Then secondly, will be to do the petroleum mining agreements and then finally, how we go about tendering, fair tender procedures so that Zimbabwe is not taken advantage of.
HON. MADZIVANYIKA: My question goes to the Minister of Agriculture. What is the rationale of your Government policy of setting an agricultural producer price for grain at a price which is way above the international market price?
THE MINISTER OF JUSTICE, LEGAL AND PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS (HON. Z. ZIYAMBI): Mr. Speaker, Government has liberalised the marketing of our grain. So currently, what we do is, we are offering that to those that we have a contract with. It is not a policy that National Foods for instance, is obligated to pay the price that we as Government are paying, or any other player for that matter. Now, we are having farmers who are contracted to us, be it through the Presidential Input Scheme or other scheme, who will bring their grain to the Grain Marketing Board for strategic stock purposes but the market is liberalised. We are at liberty to offer to our farmers whatever price we want in terms of the agreement that we would have signed with them. I submit Mr. Speaker.
HON. MADZIVANYIKA: Mr. Speaker Sir, I have a supplementary question. I have followed events since 2019 to date. The prices offered by Government are way too above. The Minister has alluded to the fact that they offer prices which they feel they are at liberty to. That is where my question is. Why is it that liberty is always above international price by more than 100% in some instances and this is above subsidies in terms of energy, subsidies in terms of input? Is it productive for this kind of situation?
HON. Z. ZIYAMBI: Mr. Speaker, I will not talk about historical issues. I will talk about what we are doing. We are entering into contracts with farmers. We give them inputs and we offer them a price; that is what business is all about. You negotiate a contract and you agree. We are agreeing with these farmers in order for us to have our strategic grain reserve. We are saying to Hon. Madzivanyika, go and market where you get a price that is in accordance with international prices. As for those that we will contract, for us to realise our strategic grain reserve, is an agreement between the two parties. It has nothing to do with international prices. It has nothing to do with Hon. Madzivanyika; when he produces his own grain, he can sell anyway. This is for strategic grain purposes and nothing else. It will not destabilise anything.
HON. MUKOMBERI: Thank you Mr. Speaker. My question is directed to the Minister of Finance and Investment Promotion. What measures are in place to improve revenue collection through taxes and reduce potential revenue leakages through tax evasions with the intention to meet the revenue collection projections which are intended to meet the projections of the current year's National Budget?
THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF FINANCE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND INVESTMENT PROMOTION (HON. D. K. MNANGAGWA): Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir. I think the first port of call for the Ministry is to make sure that we have a tax policy and infrastructure that is fit for the Zimbabwean citizens.
We do understand that if citizens are overtaxed, they evade taxes. So, one has to find a balance between taxing people in a way that they do not feel like they are paying too much but at the same time collecting enough to meet our fiscal needs. We interrogate the ecosystem and we try and make sure that under the current circumstances, we have a tax infrastructure that is fit for purpose, which makes sure that the level of taxes is not too much.
With that said Mr. Speaker Sir, the first measure that the Minister of Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion in collaboration with other ministries is doing, is seeing how best we can widen the tax base. Widening the tax base will mean that we can lower some of our tax thresholds, we collect more and be more inclusive in our tax collection measures.
The second measure that we have as a Ministry, as a Government, is to make sure that we are digital. Our tax collection agency, ZIMRA, has come up with a system that allows onboarding for new companies, individuals and existing ones to file their tax returns online. This means that one does not have to go to a ZIMRA office, allowing financial inclusion even for the most remote of businesses but the key to tax efficiency and avoiding evasion Mr. Speaker Sir, is having the microeconomic stability that is prevailing, which will promote the use of our own local currency. It is very difficult to collect US dollars that are in people's pockets, that are in notes. Henceforth, when you have a system of collection, of transacting, that is...
THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: Order, Order, Hon. Minister! Could you please quickly round up because we are out of time.
HON. D. K. MNANGAGWA: Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir. I think that should be my submission.
Questions Without Notice were interrupted by THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER in terms of Standing Order No. 68.
HON. C. HLATYWAYO: On a point of privilege Mr. Speaker.
THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: What is your point of privilege Hon. Member?
HON. C. HLATYWAYO: Thank you Mr. Speaker. Since the Deputy Minister of Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion is here, it is prudent for the House to be updated on the payment for the remaining constituencies on CDF. It is very important Mr. Speaker.
THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: So, what are you saying? Are you not aware of the rules of the House?
HON. C. HLATYWAYO: Mr. Speaker Sir? I am asking for an update on the timelines for the payment of CDF for the remaining constituencies.
THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: Hon. Hlatywayo, the Hon. Minister just explained all that and I gave him time to conclude it and he did. If ever you have got any other issues and above that, it is your privilege indeed to then put it in writing then he will respond to you in the next sitting.
ORAL ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS WITH NOTICE
The Temporary Speaker having called Question Number 1
HON. C. HLATYWAYO: Thank you Mr. Speaker. That question was answered I think four or five weeks ago by Hon. Minister M. Ncube.
THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: Thank you very much. So, we move forward.
POLICY REGARDING MINE EMPLOYEES WHO CONTRIBUTED PENSIONS IN USD CURRENCY BUT RECEIVED PAYOUTS IN LOCAL CURRENCY
- HON. MUROMBEDZI asked the Minister of Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion to explain the Government policy on pension contributions by mine workers considering that ZIMPLATS deducts workers’ pensions in United States Dollars and subsequently remits them in ZiG to the Mining Industry Pension Fund.
THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF FINANCE, ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND INVESTMENT PROMOTION (HON. D. K. MNANGAGWA): Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir. Statutory Instrument 280 of 2020 was put in place to protect workers whose pension contributions are made in foreign currency. It provides that if the employer deducts pension in foreign currency, the pension fund must invest that money in foreign currency assets and pay pension benefits in the same currency upon retirement.
In this regard, the MIPF now pays out benefits in both the USD and local currency, depending on how your contributions were made. With regards to the ZIMPLATS question, Government through IPEC, is actively engaging with both ZIMPLATS and the MIPF to ensure strict adherence to statutory and legal frameworks governing pension contributions and remittances. I thank you Mr. Speaker.
INTRODUCTION OF FISCAL LAWS TO RING-FENCE TAXES
- HON BAJILA asked the Minister of Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion to inform the House whether Government has any plans to introduce fiscal laws for the purposes of ring-fencing the following taxes in terms of section 302 of the Constitution:
- a) Carbon Tax
- b) Sugar Tax
- c) Health Fund (Airtime Tax).
THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF FINANCE, ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND INVESTMENT PROMOTION (HON. K. D. MNANGAGWA): Thank you Mr. Speaker. Legislation is already established to ring-fence revenues from the carbon tax, sugar tax and health levy. What remains is the finalisation of implementation procedures and modalities, specifically the establishment of dedicated tax accounts for the carbon and sugar taxes to ensure transparent and efficient fund management. The delays in promulgating the sugar tax legislation contributed to the current absence of a dedicated sugar tax account.
Nevertheless, collections are presently made by ZIMRA, which provides daily remittance reports to Treasury for reconciliation and accountability purposes. Regarding the carbon tax, enacted in 2014, its revenues are currently accounted for within the Consolidated Revenue Fund.
However, plans are underway to ring-fence these funds to enhance fiscal transparency and ensure that proceeds are allocated to their intended environmental and developmental objectives. The health levy is already ring-fenced with disbursements made monthly to the Ministry of Health and Child Care based on their operational requests. Revenue from the health levy support critical health sector expenditures, including operational costs, blood supply and infrastructure development.
In instances where funds from these accounts are temporarily diverted to cover Government salary obligations due to liquidity constraints, Treasury commits to reimbursing the diverted amounts once fiscal conditions improve, thereby maintaining the integrity of earmarked funds and ensuring their intended economic impact is preserved. I submit Mr. Speaker Sir.
HON. BAJILA: I would like to thank the Hon. Minister for the response that he has given and the efforts that are being made to take the carbon tax out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund and perhaps is work in progress. The Hon. Minister spoke to efforts that are underway to ring-fence sugar tax, which he eloquently spoke of the challenges that the country is facing because at the present moment, sugar tax is not ring-fenced.
What I would love to find out from the Minister is that currently as we collect sugar tax, is it getting into the Consolidated Revenue Fund and being used for other government purposes or it is being taken to the Ministry of Health and Child Care so that it can use it for its intended or general purposes? I thank you.
THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: Hon. Member, did the Hon. Minister say it is not ring-fenced?
HON. BAJILA: He said work is in progress to get sugar tax ring-fenced. So, I wanted to find out if it is.
THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: Order! Let us get the Hon. Minister to clarify that.
THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF FINANCE, ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND INVESTMENT PROMOTION (HON. K. D. MNANGAGWA): Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir. All three funds are ring-fenced. Work is in progress to ensure we have dedicated accounts and money is collected into a separate account but for accounting purposes, these are already ring-fenced similar to how the carbon tax has been operating. I so submit.
THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: It is very important to get facts correctly, especially in this august House so that we do not go out and spread falsehoods. The funds are ring-fenced.
HON. JAMES: Thank you Mr. Speaker. My observation is that accounts should have been set up prior to introducing these levies. The same goes for local authorities, they appear to give these levies willy-nilly but I would have thought that these accounts should have been set up before the levies were introduced.
HON. K. D. MNANGAGWA: Mr. Speaker, when the Minister of Finance comes with a budget proposal and an aspiration, it is assumed that it can pass or may not pass. Henceforth, setting up accounts before a law is passed will be a futile process. The proper thing to do is to have the law in place and the modalities follow. If the Ministry of Finance were to set up special accounts for all the aspirational revenues they would want to collect or proposed pieces of legislation and then they are turned down, it would merely be a waste of taxpayer’s money.
CIRCUMSTANCES SURROUNDING IRREGULAR PAYMENTS TRANSFERRED TO ZIMBABWEAN ACCOUNT HOLDERS
- HON MADZIVANYIKA asked the Minister of Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion to inform the House of the circumstances surrounding the irregular payments which were transferred to account holders who are Zimbabweans as highlighted in the Southern African Financial Centre Report published in April and also to update the House on the action taken by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe in conjunction with the law enforcement agents to bring the culprits to book.
THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF FINANCE, ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND INVESTMENT PROMOTION (HON. K. D. MNANGAGWA): Thank you Mr. Speaker. The Hon Member asked us to inform the House on the circumstances surrounding the irregular payments which were transferred to account holders who are Zimbabweans as highlighted in the Southern African Financial Centre Report published in April. Mr. Speaker Sir, I am not sure which Southern African Financial Centre Report was being referred to. If it is contextual around maybe the South Africa Financial Intelligent Unit but it was not very clear. We tried to look for what the centre is or what this publication is but no such results came out. Maybe the Hon. Member may clarify which centre he is referring to.
THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: I think in that light Hon. Madzivanyika, you need to rewrite your question with specifics as to where exactly you got that data from so that they can give you a comprehensive response to your question.
HON. MADZIVANYIKA: Mr. Speaker Sir, with your indulgence, I want to prove a point here, which I have been complaining about over and over again. When I wrote my question via e-mail, which I sent to Journals office, I specifically wrote a question referring to a transaction that took place from the Ministry of Finance to a South African company called Daily Form CC, which delivered election materials for 2023. I specifically mentioned the South African intelligence Centre but the one who wrote this question, I do not know why they wrote this because I have the evidence in my e-mail.
THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: The Minister has indicated that he does not have those specifics so we may spend the whole day going back and forth trying to figure out what happened. So, please re-phrase your question and resubmit it so that they give you a comprehensive response to your important question.
HON. MADZIVANYIKA: Hon. Speaker, with your indulgence.
THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: Order, Hon. Bajila and Hon Madzivanyika! Please take your seats. Hon Madzivanyika, I think I have made a clear ruling unless if you want to exchange roles and you come over this side and I come there. Hon. Madzivanyika, I said please go and rewrite your question with those specifics that the Minister has asked for because he does not have them.
HON. BAJILA: On a point of privilege Hon. Speaker. Thank you Mr. Speaker. It is our privilege as MPs that if we ask some questions, they get to the Ministers in the manner in which we wrote them. If Hon. Madzivanyika writes South Africa and the Minister receives Southern Africa, the difference between South Africa and Southern Africa is huge. The Journals office is changing our questions, thereby making it difficult for the Ministers to respond. So, you need to have a specific issue on the difference between South Africa and Southern Africa, which is an error made in the Journals office. The Minister is here willing to respond in general but even if Hon. Madzivanyika resends the question and it comes back as Southern Africa, again the Minister will not be able to respond. So, it must be specific not general.
THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: Hon. Bajila, to err is human, so if there was a mistake and information did not go properly, the Minister has clearly said that let us rewrite it so that he responds. He has not refused to respond but right now what do you want him to respond to when he does not have any specifics?
GUARANTEEING A LOAN TO PRIVATE PLAYERS WITHOUT PARLIAMENTARY APPROVAL
- HON. MADZIVANYIKA asked the Minister of Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion to explain to the House how the Ministry guaranteed a loan to private players without parliamentary approval in contravention with the Public Management Act as was the case in the legacy debt of USD 191,578,853.56 owed to Valley Seeds Private Limited?
THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF FINANCE, ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND INVESTMENT PROMOTION (HON. K. D. MNANGAGWA): Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir. If you can indulge me to assist the Hon. Member as he redirects his previous question. If his enquiry was on the South African Intelligence Unit, these do not make publications. If they communicate with sister organisations, the South African Intelligence would communicate with the Zimbabwe Financial Intelligence Unit. This would be in confidence and such information would not even be for our consumption as ministers. This is just to give him context so that we do not continue moving around and spinning the same wheel. There will be no publications that come from an intelligence unit and any communication that can be purported to be in the public domain or not in the public domain cannot be verified because these are private communications. I think it is important to note that so that we know the veracity of our sources.
THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: Thank you very much for that clarification Hon. Deputy Minister. You can now give the response to question No. 5.
HON. MADZIVANYIKA: Hon. Speaker, can I be allowed to ask a supplementary question on that response?
THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: No, sorry, you cannot. We are just indulging you but you are very free to see him after the session outside. Hon. Minister, you can respond to question No. 5.
HON. K D. MNANGAGWA: Mr. Speaker Sir, we were asked to explain to the House how the Ministry guaranteed a loan to private players without parliamentary approval in contravention with the Public Management Act as was the case in the legacy debt of USD 191,578,853.56 owed to Valley Seeds Private Limited.
In response to that, Government is currently owing Valley Seeds US191,578,835.56 for inputs supplied under the Vulnerable Inputs Scheme. Due to limited fiscal space, Government could not immediately settle Valley Seeds debt. In an effort to unlock the arrears, Valley Seeds discounted their debt through their local bank. In turn, the bank requested Government to provide an assurance of a monthly payment of USD 5mln which will be paid to Valley Seeds through their local bank. Following the above, the issued letter is a payment plan/commitment to Valley Seeds and assuring their bank that all payments will be done through their bank. In this regard, the letter that was issued is not a guarantee but a commitment letter to make payments on arrears accumulated. I so submit.
HON. MADZIVANYIKA: Thank you Hon. Speaker. When you make a commitment as Government to pay, you are making a guarantee. This is the fundamental basis of my submission. When you are making a commitment to say you are going to pay USD5 million for the next 12 months, it is a guarantee by Government. Actually, if you look at that letter, it had Hon. George Guvamatanga as the executor. He indicated that he got the authority from the Minister to execute or to guarantee a systematic payment of USD5 million per month up to the end of six months.
The question still remains, why do you guarantee private players without the approval of Parliament? Under normal circumstances, you are supposed to come to Parliament as a Minister to say, the owners of the purse, this is what we are going to do and this is the transaction that I want to prove because it is a private citizen according to the portion of the law. So, I still request a genuine answer Hon. Speaker.
THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: Hon. Deputy Minister, please just clarify again to him exactly how you put it.
HON. D. K. MNANGAGWA: Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir. I think the Hon. Member is deliberately misleading the House. A letter of commitment and a Government guarantee are two very separate instruments. When you go to a bank with a letter of commitment and a Government guarantee, they are treated very differently. When Government contracts suppliers, they make a commitment to pay. What the Ministry simply did was reaffirm that commitment to the bank where this private individual had made a private structure with his bank.
I would not want to conflate a Government guarantee and a letter of commitment. I think that would not be right Mr. Speaker. Thank you very much.
Hon. Madzivanyika having stood up for clarity.
THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: Order, order, order Hon. Madzivanyika. You know very well the rules of this House. You cannot stand up twice to ask the same question. The Minister has clarified the difference between a guarantee and a letter of commitment. If you want to learn more, there are a lot of Members who are willing to teach you more on that. But not at the time of the taxpayers.
RATIONALE BEHIND THE REINTRODUCTION OF GOLD COINS
- HON. MADZIVANYIKA asked the Minister of Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion to update the House on the rationale behind the reintroduction of gold coins eight months after they were scrapped by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe.
THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF FINANCE, ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND INVESTMENT PROMOTION (HON. D. K. MNANGAGWA): Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir. The Hon. Member asked us to update the House on the rationale behind the reintroduction of gold coins eight months after they were scrapped by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe. The gold coins were not scrapped but rather remained dormant during the intervening period. The RBZ has now reactivated the use of gold coins as a strategic monetary instrument aimed at absorbing excess liquidity from the domestic financial system. The policy response is underpinned by the recent significant appreciation in international gold prices which enhances the attractiveness and effectiveness of gold-backed instruments in stabilising the economy. It is important to clarify that no new gold coins are being minted currently. Instead, the RBZ is facilitating the exchange and circulation of existing gold coins within the formal financial sector. This approach supports the broader monetary policy objective of strengthening the Zimbabwe Gold currency or ZiG by anchoring it to tangible asset reserves thereby enhancing confidence and mitigating inflationary pressures.
The measures align with the RBZ's commitment to a tight monetary policy stance in 2025 which includes high interest rates and targeted liquidity management designed to stabilise the currency and foster macro-economic stability amid ongoing external shocks. I submit Mr. Speaker.
HON. MADZIVANYIKA: Thank you Hon. Minister for the response. My follow-up question is, Hon. Minister, we have got a new currency which is called the Zimbabwe Gold. According to when it was introduced, the Ministry indicated that it was backed by gold or anchored by gold and foreign currencies. When you now introduce the gold coin, the Zimbabwe Gold, can you relate the two? Is it not one and the same thing? Thank you Mr. Speaker.
HON. D. K. MNANGAGWA: Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir. It is one and the same thing. That is why the Reserve Bank is confident enough to say, bring your ZiG and we will give you gold coins because you are exchanging gold for gold. This is why we have these instruments. If you are more comfortable keeping your gold in ZiG, you can keep it in ZiG. If you want to keep gold coins, you can keep them as gold coins. Our currency is indeed backed by gold. Henceforth, we are giving the market options to decide whether they want to keep actual gold or keep it in ZiG. So, I would say it is one and the same thing Mr. Speaker.
THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: Thank you very much Hon. Deputy Minister of Finance. We will skip question number seven because unfortunately, it is a repetition.
DISBURSEMENT OF DEVOLUTION FUNDS TO LOCAL AUTHORITIES
- HON. MAMBIPIRI asked the Minister of Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion to apprise the House on the Government policy regarding timeous disbursements of devolution funds to local authorities, and to further state how much was given to the City of Kadoma in the past three years.
THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF FINANCE, ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND INVESTMENT PROMOTION (HON. D. K. MNANGAGWA): Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir. Consistent with the constitutional provision under Section 301 A and B, the 2025 budget provided for 13.6 billion ZiG, being the annual share of at least 5% of anticipated budget revenues for intergovernmental fiscal transfers. To date, 516.4 million has been disbursed to various local authorities targeting social infrastructure development and procurement of equipment.
In spite of Treasury being committed to making quarterly devolution disbursements in line with the Zimbabwe Intergovernmental Fiscal Transfer Systems Administrative Manual, there is need for the benefiting tiers of Government to have proactive engagements with the line ministry and Treasury to align cashflow disbursements to implementation plans to ensure that some of the targeted projects and programmes are effectively implemented and completed.
Furthermore, the limited disbursements towards devolution have been on account of the need for Government to support other competing needs including projects and programmes such as Roads Development Programme. Government is also embarking on other infrastructure developments that require the need to mitigate the effects of drought which meant that Government had to channel resources towards food mitigation and other social safety nets to ensure food security in both rural and urban areas.
Going forward, Treasury reiterates its commitments towards ensuring timeless disbursements of devolution resources. With regard to Kadoma, the actual cash resources availed to local authorities will be obtained from the Ministry of Local Government and Public Works. I submit Mr. Speaker.
INFORMATION ON THE SHAREHOLDING STRUCTURE OF HWANGE COLLIERY COMPANY
- HON. BONDA asked the Minister of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs to inform the House on the Shareholding structure of the Hwange Colliery Company between the workers and the parent company.
THE MINISTER OF JUSTICE, LEGAL AND PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS (HON. Z. ZIYAMBI): Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir. Hon. Bonda wanted me to inform the House on the shareholding structure of Hwange Colliery Company between the workers and the parent company. I am not sure why Hon. Bonda wanted this.Before Hwange was placed on reconstruction, it was a listed company. So, a listed company's shares change and anyone can go and buy shares. I think this is public information which is not privy to me unless if you wanted to know the shareholding and what Government was owed. It is a listed company. In a listed company, you do not ask for the shareholding of specific individuals because it is dynamic and changes depending on who purchases shares. I submit Hon. Speaker.
PAYMENT OF PENSIONERS’ GRATUITY OF SERVICE BY HWANGE COLLIERY FROM THE YEAR 2000
- HON. BONDA asked the Minister of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs to brief the House on measures taken by the Government to ensure the payment of pensioners’ gratuity of service by Hwange Colliery from the year 2000.
THE MINISTER OF JUSTICE, LEGAL AND PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS (HON. Z. ZIYAMBI: Thank you Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, gratuity payment ceased in 1984 following the introduction of the Mining Industry Pension Fund. Statutory Instrument 152 of 1990 along with its amendment and SI 109 of 1993 clarifies the eligibility criteria for gratuity. These statutes specify that only contract employees who have saved for three months or more are entitled to receive a 5% gratuity upon the completion of their contracts. All permanent employees contribute to the pension fund and as such, it is not a prerequisite for them to receive gratuity.
The provision for gratuity was initially outlined in the Statutory Instrument of 1959 which has since been rendered obsolete due to policy changes. Therefore, there were no gratuities due in the year 2000. I thank you.
CAUSES OF INORDINATE DELAYS IN THE DELIVERY OF JUDGEMENTS AT THE COURTS OF LAW
- HON. MPASI asked the Minister of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs to explain to the House causes of inordinate delays in the delivery of judgments at the courts of law, particularly the High Court and measures being taken to address the same.
THE MINISTER OF JUSTICE, LEGAL AND PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS (HON. Z. ZIYAMBI): Thank you Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this question was very general. I urge Hon. Mpasi, if he has got statistics, to indicate them so that I can inform the House appropriately. Right now, I am not aware of the inordinate delay but if he has specific issues to say that at Harare there are these cases that were dealt with in 2023, they are still pending, then we will be able to interrogate but the way it is, my response is, I am not aware of what he is saying unless he produces evidence of the inordinate delays. I submit Mr. Speaker Sir.
THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: Thank you very much Hon. Minister. Hon. Mpasi, I think you stand guided. According to the request made by the Minister, are you able to then write your specifics and resubmit that question so that you are properly answered?
HON. MPASI: Thank you. I will provide the information needed.
INFORMATION ON PRISON SENTENCES AND THEIR ALIGNMENT WITH THE JUSTICE SYSTEM
- HON. MPASI asked the Minister of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs to inform the House on the Ministry’s policy regarding prison sentences where individuals are incarcerated for periods of up to 60 or even 100 years and to elaborate how such sentences align with principles of justice, rehabilitation and proportionality within the justice system.
THE MINISTER OF JUSTICE, LEGAL AND PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS (HON. Z. ZIYAMBI): Mr Speaker Sir, our prison service is called Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Service, so our prison serves several functions. To remove undesirable elements from society and put them into prison, that is incarceration and then they have another function of rehabilitation.
There are certain individuals who are undesirable in society and they have to be taken out for a long time. So exactly what Hon. Mpasi is asking, we have to balance between the need to have a safe community and the need to rehabilitate. Stiffer sentences are part of our sentencing regime. You have seen this very august House passing mandatory sentences to show the society's disdain for certain crimes. Like when we passed the laws to deal with copper, the Minister of Home Affairs, my colleague came and requested stiffer sentences of up to 30 years. We want those to act as deterrents and we want to take away those misguided elements from our society so that we have a society that is free from people who are not desirable to be there but at the same time, we also play a rehabilitative role to those that have got sentences which allow them to be reintegrated into society at a certain date in future. I thank you Mr. Speaker Sir.
HON. MUSHORIWA: My supplementary question to the Hon. Minister is that with respect to the rehabilitation of prisoners, given the budgetary allocation that your Ministry has been availed even in the 2025 budget, how possible and how flexible is your Ministry going to ensure that there is rehabilitation across Zimbabwe? If you look at the thin budget that you have, it appears as if it is practically impossible for your Ministry to properly do the rehabilitation, given the quantum of prisoners that are in our prisons. I am just wondering whether given the quantum, is it therefore probably not possible?
THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: Order Hon. Member! I thought you were going to go straight to the question instead of debating.
HON. MUSHORIWA: I thought I had asked the question.
THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: So just ask the question and then let the Hon. Minister respond.
HON. MUSHORIWA: It was A and B but anyway, it is okay Mr. Speaker. I wanted to just find out from the Hon. Minister, given the budgetary constraints, how far the Ministry can actually go and whether it is not prudent to consider releasing some of these prisoners more often on the Presidential parole given that we do not have the sufficient budget to do the rehabilitation.
HON. Z. ZIYAMBI: I want to thank Hon. Mushoriwa for the follow-up question. Indeed, we operate with a thin budget that will not make it very possible to rehabilitate all our prisoners or carry out programmes that we believe, if they are undertaken, will allow for the rehabilitation of prisoners. We have been trying within the confines of our budget. We have several programmes that we have been doing in bricklaying and in farming. We have lots of farming activities, we have trained several of our prisoners, imparted skills in agriculture, in carpentry and in engineering, we have been doing that. What we are trying to do going forward is to engage the private sector and perhaps come up with a foundation that will also assist us in fundraising, in coming up with new initiatives to do the work of offender rehabilitation and that is the thrust that we are looking at.
The parole system, we do not want to use it as a substitute for failure to rehabilitate our inmates. We believe that as far as possible, we must have an inmate who will be reintegrated into society, fully rehabilitated, being able to reintegrate into that society while being an acceptable member of the society. In that regard, pursuant to our Act, we are going to set up a community correctional facility whereby those members that are due to be released, move them to these community correctional facilities. They will be staying there but being allowed to interact with members of the community so that by the time they are released into the community, the community are already used to them because they are staying with them, so that it becomes seamless when they are going there.
So rather than use the parole, we want now to use these community correctional facilities that we are creating in communities whereby people know that there is that community centre where they would say mwana wekwanhingi anga ari kuchitokisi waapo then they interact and when they are released, it will be a soft landing. The community will now be accepting them. I thank you.
AFFORDABILITY OF BLOOD TRANSFUSION SERVICES
- HON. MGUNI asked the Minister of Health and Child Care to update the House on the measures in place to make blood transfusions more affordable for the poor and vulnerable members of society, considering that the current cost of over $200 per pint is prohibitive.
THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF HEALTH AND CHILD CARE (HON. DR. KWIDINI): Thank you Mr. Speaker. I would like to thank the Hon. Member for the question. The Ministry is currently implementing a programme that offers free blood services at all public hospitals, with the Ministry of Health and Child Care covering the associated costs. Despite this support, the financial burden remains significant, posing challenges even for the Government. As a result, the Ministry has initiated a collaborative effort with the National Blood Service Zimbabwe to conduct a detailed analysis of the cost breakdown of the US$200, aiming to address and optimise the expenditure. I so submit,
INFORMATION ON 2024 HIV/AIDS PREVALENCE
- HON. BAJILA asked the Minister Health and Child Care to inform the House on the 2024 HIV/AIDS prevalence in Zimbabwe and the measures in place to sustain the fight against the virus.
THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF HEALTH AND CHILD CARE (HON. DR. KWIDINI): Thank you Hon. Bajila for the question. The HIV prevalence is down to 11.5%. The Ministry of Health and Child Care and partners advocate the following measures to fight HIV;
- Abstinence for youth and young people and all single persons not in relationships.
- Being faithful to one and uninfected partner.
- Correct and consistent use of condoms.
- Use of ARVs, drugs to prevent the acquisition of HIV, that is, PEP treatment as prevention when viral load is undetectable.
- Early diagnosis and treatment of STIs.
- Free HIV testing and counselling, free ART, free and frank discussions about reproductive health and rights and fighting stigma.
- Get smart, get circumcised. I so submit.
SHORTAGE OF BABY CLINIC CARDS IN CHITUNGWIZA
- HON. MAZHINDU asked the Minister of Health and Child Care to inform the House of Government plans to address shortage of baby clinic cards at St. Marys, Zengeza, Seke South, and Seke North Clinics.
THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF HEALTH AND CHILD CARE (HON. DR. KWIDINI): There were 120,000 child health cards printed for distribution in Harare this year. Another 950,000 are being printed with 200,000 ready for distribution to the rest of the country. Funds have been secured to print a further 120,000 by mid-year. The distribution is being done through the vaccine stores together with vaccines.
The distribution is either already done or currently being done for Chitunguza is;
|
Chitungwiza Central Hospital |
5000 |
|
Chitungwiza ZRP |
30 |
|
Manyame |
480 |
|
Seke North |
4300 |
|
Seke South |
900 |
|
South Medical |
1000 |
|
St Mary’s |
2300 |
|
Stoneridge |
110 |
|
Zengeza |
2200 |
|
Total |
16320 |
CLOSING OF PRIMARY NURSING SCHOOLS IN MATOBO DISTRICT
- HON. BAJILA asked the Minister of Health and Child Care to inform the House why Tshelanyemba and Maphisa Primary Care Nursing Schools in Matobo District were closed and to further state whether any plans are in place to reopen them.
THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF HEALTH AND CHILD CARE (HON. DR. KWIDINI): Tshelanyemba in Maphisa temporarily stopped training due to non-availability of teaching staff, mainly nurse tutors. The tutor who was at Tshelanyemba was promoted to be a principal tutor at Ingutsheni School of Mental Health Nursing, leaving no tutor at the school. However, the province is now ready to reopen Tshelanyemba in September 2025 as there is now a tutor to run the programme. Efforts are being made to find tutors for the school. Both schools were inspected in March 2025 by the Nurses Council of Zimbabwe who recommended Tshelanyemba to start training and Maphisa to address the identified gaps. Just to add on Hon. Members, Maphisa is going to start in September 2025.
HON. BAJILA: I wish to thank Hon. Kwidini for the responses that indicated that Government is taking measures to get those primary nursing schools reopened. The Minister mentioned a challenge of departure of a primary nursing tutor and now they are saying they have found one and are reopening. What plans does Government have of retaining these so that if this one who is being taken to Tshelanyemba is given an offer to go elsewhere, we do not get too close immediately after opening?
HON. DR. KWIDINI: In order to make sure that this will not happen again, if you recall some weeks or months back, we have said the Ministry has come up with a strategy called COMPACT which is there to enable or double the workforce by 2030. We have now liaised with the Ministry of Finance so that they can fund more posts. For now, we have trained tutors but before, we did not have tutors. The Ministry of Finance has given us the green light to employ to cover that gap for reopening of these schools. I want to assure this House that we are not going to have the same problem in the future.
OPENING OF A NURSING TRAINING SCHOOL AT GURUVE DISTRICT HOSPITAL
- HON PINDUKA asked the Minister of Health and Child Care to inform the House when the Ministry will open a Nursing Training School at Guruve District Hospital where some facilities are already available considering that Guruve District Hospital is among the few district institutions in the province of Mashonaland Central or nationally, is lagging behind in terms of nurse training.
THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF HEALTH AND CHILD CARE (HON. DR. KWIDINI): Guruve Hospital is part of the facilities we are earmarking to establish a school of nursing at. Mashonaland Central currently has five schools; namely Karanda Hospital, Bindura Hospital for registered general training, Mt. Darwin Hospital, St. Alberts and Howard Hospital for PC and training. The Ministry of Health and Child Care is in the process of establishing the sixth one, that is, Chimhanda Hospital.
Guruve Hospital School of Nursing will be our next project after Chimhanda as it is necessary to construct one classroom, two demonstration rooms, three student accommodation and four staff accommodation. The opening of more schools of nursing is in line with our health workforce strategy which seeks to double our health workforce by 2030. I so submit.
INFORMATION ON REMOVAL OF CONSTRAINTS IN CHANGING FROM MATERNAL TO PATERNAL SURNAMES
- HON. MATARA asked the Minister of Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage to inform the House on measures in place to ensure flexibility, reduction of costs and removal of constraints for individuals who wish to change their maternal to paternal surnames.
THE MINISTER OF HOME AFFAIRS AND CULTURAL HERITAGE (HON. KAZEMBE): The Ministry of Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage, through the Civil Registry Department, recognises the importance of individuals’ identity, family unity and cultural context in the matter of surnames.
The department affirms that there is flexibility within the current civil registration framework to allow individuals to apply for a change from maternal to paternal surname. This is however, subject to the necessary legal and administrative procedures.
To ensure this flexibility, the department has clear requirements for re-registration and these include:
- Presence of both parents with their national identity documents;
- Sworn affidavits from both parents;
- Statutory fee of USD20 or ZWG equivalent.
Please be informed that initial registration of birth for children below the age of six is done at no cost. Re-registration involves the use of Government resources including verification of documents, updates to national database and the production of new legal records. Charging a fee helps cover these administrative costs ensuring that services remain efficient and sustainable.
The Ministry is committed to upholding the rights of individuals in matters of personal identity and ensuring that administrative processes are inclusive, accessible and responsive to the evolving needs of our citizens.
Hon Madzivanyika having stood up to present Question No. 40 on behalf of Hon. Makumire
THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER (HON. MAUNGANIDZE): Hon. Minister, can you please submit the response to Question 40.
HON. MADZIVANYIKA: Madam Speaker, I am holding an authorisation from Hon. Makumire. Please allow Hon. Members to express themselves first before making a ruling. This trend is becoming so bad.
THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: Hon. Madzivanyika, you are reminded to follow procedures always. I had not allowed you to speak but I heard you had requested through the Clerk’s office. So, Hon. Minister, you may give a response.
EXTENSION OF THE DEADLINE FOR PAYMENT OF EXAMINATION FEES
- HON. MAKUMIRE asked the Minister of Primary and Secondary Education to provide details to the House regarding Government's intentions to extend the deadline for the payment of O' and A' level examination fees to late April.
THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF PRIMARY AND SECONDARY EDUCATION (HON. GATA): Madam Speaker Ma'am, let me thank Hon. Makumire for asking this question regarding the extension of the deadline for payment of O’ and A’ level examination fees. Following consultations with key stakeholders, the Ministry has approved the extension of the deadline for the payment of Zimbabwe School Examination Council November, 2025 examination fee. The new deadline is now 16th May, 2025, extending from the initial deadline of 28th March, 2025.
The extension is a direct response to concerns raised by stakeholders, including Parliamentarians regarding the challenges faced by parents, guardians and schools in meeting with initial deadline. These challenges are largely attributed to the prevailing economic environment which has placed significant financial pressure on families making it difficult for many to meet their financial obligations, including payment of examination fees. In response to these concerns and in consultation with stakeholders, the Ministry has extended the deadline.
In addition, this extension is intended to provide all guardians, parents and schools with additional time to mobilise the necessary funds and ensure that all eligible candidates are registered for the examinations. The Ministry is committed to ensuring that all eligible candidates have the opportunity to sit for their examinations and the extension aligns with the Government's policy of inclusivity and equitable access to education. The extension will not disrupt the examination timetable or compromise the integrity of the examination process, allowing for the smooth process of registrations and payments.
The decision demonstrates the Ministry's responsiveness to the concerns of stakeholders fostering greater confidence in the education system. The Government is fully aware of the financial challenges that parents and guardians may face in raising funds for examination fees. It is also important to highlight that the Government has significantly subsidised the examination fees to ensure that every child, regardless of their financial background can afford to sit for their O’ and A’ level examinations. For the 2025 examinations, the Government is covering 55% of the fees for candidates in public schools, local authority schools and mission schools.
This subsidy is part of our ongoing commitment to making education accessible to all, leaving no one behind. I want to assure this House and the nation that no child will be left behind. We are closely monitoring the situation and will take the necessary steps to ensure that all candidates are able to register for their examinations. Should any extension be required, it will be communicated promptly to all stakeholders. I so submit.
Questions With Notice were interrupted by THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER in terms of Standing Order Number 68.
HON. PINDUKA: Madam Speaker Ma’am, I move that time for Questions With Notice be extended by 30 more minutes.
HON. S. DUBE: I second.
Motion put and agreed to.
PLANS FOR THE FUTURE OF WILIKISA SECONDARY SCHOOL
- HON. NKALA asked the Minister of Primary and Secondary Education to inform the House of the plans the Ministry has regarding the future of Wilikisa Secondary School and to state whether due diligence was done in its siting and location with particular emphasis on the feeder primary schools. THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF PRIMARY AND SECONDARY EDUCATION (HON. GATA): The Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education acknowledges the inquiry regarding the future of Wilikisa Secondary School. The school is yet to be authorised for establishment and construction. The siting of the school was conducted in November 2024. Unlike the usual practice of considering multiple sites, only one location was evaluated.
However, all stakeholders were present at the meeting and anonimously agreed on the selected site. It is important to note that Wilikisa Primary School serves as a key feeder school for the proposed secondary school which strengthens the case for its establishment in the chosen location. The Ministry is currently reviewing the site to ensure it meets the necessary criteria for accessibility and long-term viability while also aligning with educational infrastructure development standards. Further updates will be provided once the review process is complete. I so submit.
HON. NKALA: My question to the Minister, is it procedural to have a facility like a school commencing other activities before the Ministry authorises, as she has alluded in her response?
HON. GATA: I would like to ask the Hon. Member, what activities are you talking about that have commenced? If you can put that in writing or if you would like to share that with me. Thank you.
THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: Thank you Hon. Minister. Hon. Nkala, can you please put your question in writing so that you get a detailed response?
STANDARDISATION OF CONSTRUCTION OF SCHOOLS’ INFRASTRUCTURE
- HON. M. NDEBELE asked the Minister of Primary and Secondary Education to inform the House of what Government's policy is on schools constructed using clay as is the case with Nhlonhlweni Primary School and further clarify the measures Government is putting in place to standardise construction of schools' infrastructure.
THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF PRIMARY AND SECONDARY EDUCATION (HON. GATA): The Ministry acknowledges the challenges faced by schools constructed using non-standard materials such as clay or firm bricks as is the case with Nhlonhlweni Primary School established in 1965. The school has two classroom blocks. The older block constructed with firm bricks, suffered significant damage when its roof was destroyed by termites. The other block built with concrete blocks remains in relatively better condition.
However, one classroom block was destroyed in 2012 and another was damaged in 2022. Currently, efforts are underway to address these challenges. The School Development Committee has already secured zinc sheets and trusses to repair one of the damaged blocks.
Additionally, the responsible authority and the SDC are working collaboratively to rehabilitate the existing structures and improve the learning environment for both teachers and learners. To expedite this process, the DDC has scheduled a meeting with the responsible authority and the SDC to strategise and implement measures aimed at quickly resolving the issues faced by the school. The Ministry has also reviewed and improved the standard designs required for schools, ensuring they are more robust and better equipped to withstand environmental and structural challenges.
These improved designs are now the benchmark for all schools in Zimbabwe and represent the Government's commitment to enhancing infrastructure in the education sector. As part of its policy, the Ministry discourages the use of standard materials in school construction and promotes the adoption of durable building materials. Furthermore, it actively fosters partnerships with communities and development stakeholders to enhance and maintain school facilities, ensuring safe and conducive learning environments for all. I so submit Madam Speaker.
HON. M. NDEBELE: You have alluded that the school started in 1965 and was built with clay and up to now it is in the same state. When is it going to be a good time for the Government to do better than what has been happening since 1965 because currently speaking, two disasters have followed consequently affecting the school and the Government has not responded to even one of the disasters? When is it going to be a good time that you prioritise and give it first preference?
HON. GATA: If I can put the facts right through to Hon. Ndebele. If you remember, I said there is a classroom block that was built in 2023. All these are efforts to strengthen that was started in 1965. According to the school's development plan, more classrooms are expected to be constructed this year. This follows a donation from former students of the school and contributions from parents and the community. However, the Ministry is also making efforts to build a full-fledged school at Mhlonhlweni Primary School. Through the local education district, the office is mobilising resources to ensure that a fully-fledged school is constructed. Besides requesting funds through the PSIP projects, efforts have been made to reach out to education partners. The Ministry, from its budgetary funding, we are expecting some funds and Mhlonhlweni Primary School is one of the candidates to get fixed.
HON. BAJILA: The question of Mhlonhlweni Primary School is the third question I asked in this House after I had been sworn in as a Member of Parliament. That was in October 2023. We are in 2025 now and the response that the Minister has given is somewhat similar to the one that I was given in October 2023 and it is still with exactly the same school and exactly the same challenges.
My question is, when does Government expect at least to have the roof for those classes that are on brick and mortar so that at least the school can have a proper learning environment?
HON. GATA: I would like to differ with the Hon. Member. I have mentioned that a block was constructed in 2023 and there are efforts that are being made currently to build more blocks. There are very pronounced plans that are there. I do not know what the Hon. Member is expecting.
PROVISION OF ADEQUATE LEARNING FACILITIES TO UMGUZA VOCATIONAL TRAINING CENTRE
- HON. MAKUMIRE asked the Minister of Youth Empowerment and Vocational Training to inform the House of the Government's plans to provide Umguza Vocational Training Centre (VTC) with adequate learning facilities to ensure the centre's effective operation
THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF YOUTH, EMPOWERMENT, DEVELOPMENT AND VOCATIONAL TRAINING (HON. MUPAMHANGA): On the Ministry's plans to provide Umguza VTC with adequate training facilities, I would like to highlight the fact that in 2025, Umguza VTC was allocated 40,880,000 ZiG for the construction of a multi-purpose workshop which can accommodate three courses and a hostel with a capacity of 56. Preliminary works of procurement are underway so that the funding can be accessed from Treasury. Construction should start in the next quarter. In addition, funds have been allocated for the retooling of Umguza VTC. I so submit.
MORDENISATION OF CURRICULA AT VTCs
- HON MAKUMIRE asked the Minister of Youth Empowerment and Vocational Training to apprise the House of the Government's plans to modernise curricula at VTCs in Zimbabwe and introduce ICTs and electronic repair courses
THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF YOUTH EMPOWERMENT, DEVELOPMENT AND VOCATIONAL TRAINING (HON. MUPAMHANGA): Let me thank Hon. Makumire once again for the question and respond by saying that the Ministry has developed the strategic framework for the transformation of the vocational training system. The goal of the strategic framework is to modernise and expand the vocational training system.
One of the pillars of strategic framework is curriculum review.
The curriculum review process, which is ongoing, incorporates courses that are in tandem with modern trends in community and industrial development. Examples of such courses are information and communication technology, hospitality and tourism, automotive, cosmetology, electrical and electronics. To date, 28 modules including that of electronic repairs and ICT have been developed and accredited with the Zimbabwe National Qualification Authority.
The Ministry is working with a consultant who is an expert in curriculum development, subject matter specialist industry and the Ministry of Higher and Tertiary Education, Innovation, Science and Technology Development. The Ministry has launched an innovative digital skills initiative, empowering youths with expertise needed to thrive in today's technology-driven world. So far, Ruwa, Magamba, Mushagashe VTC have taken the lead on this.
RECOVERY OF LAND GRABBED FROM UMGUZA VOCATIONAL TRAINING CENTRE
- HON MAKUMIRE asked the Minister of Youth Empowerment, Development and Vocational Training to inform the House of the Government's plans to recover 44 hectares of land that was allegedly grabbed from Umguza Vocational Training Centre (VTC) by surrounding farmers and to provide a timeline for the recovery and restitution of the said land.
THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF YOUTH EMPOWERMENT, DEVELOPMENT AND VOCATIONAL TRAINING (HON. MUPAMHANGA): Hon. Speaker Ma’am, the Ministry is aware of the 44 hectares of land raised by Honourable Makumire and the issue is receiving attention.
Our Ministry has approached the Minister of Provincial Affairs for Matebeleland North Province who has since referred the matter to the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Resettlement. They are yet to visit the institution to resolve the dispute. I can assure the Hon. Member that by the next session, we will have a proper update on the matter.
HON. MADZIVANYIKA: Hon. Makumire, thank you very much. I want to thank the Hon. Minister for a very good response. However, I am not sure when the Hon. Minister says, next session, does he mean the 11th session or next week or next sitting of Parliament?
HON. MUPAMHANGA: I mean next week Tuesday, that is the next sitting. I thank you.
ESTABLISHMENT OF A STATE UNIVERSITY IN KADOMA
- HON. MAMBIPIRI asked the Minister of Higher and Tertiary Education, Innovation, Science and Technology Development if the Government has plans to establish a State University in the City of Kadoma so as to cater for the youth population’s tertiary education.
THE MINISTER OF HIGHER AND TERTIARY EDUCATION, INNOVATION, SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT (HON. DR. SHAVA): Thank you very much Madam Speaker. I would like to thank the Hon. Member for the pertinent question regarding establishing a State University in the City of Kadoma.
Let me begin by affirming that the Government of Zimbabwe remains committed to expanding and coming up with equitable distribution of higher and tertiary education across all provinces and districts in line with the Education 5.0 Model, which seeks to foster teaching, research, community service, innovation and industrialisation.
Currently, our main focus is on establishing a State University in all the provinces of Zimbabwe. In light of this, in the province of Mashonaland West where Kadoma is situated, there is already at least one university, which is Chinhoyi University of Technology, meaning that people from Kadoma can access a university within the province.
Kadoma is a growing urban centre with a strong mining and agricultural base, which certainly presents a strategic case for the establishment of a higher learning institution that can support both the local and national economy. At this point, the Ministry is actively engaged in feasibility studies to assess infrastructure, academic focus areas and alignment with the National Development Goals under Vision 2030. While there are currently no finalised plans to establish a fully-fledged State University, I wish to inform this House that the Government has plans to establish a polytechnic in Kadoma as part of our broader strategy to ensure each region has access to specialised, locally relevant tertiary education.
We are also exploring the possibility of expanding existing university-state-wide campuses in the area which could be upgraded over time. The Ministry welcomes further engagement with the local leadership industry, stakeholders and the community in Kadoma to ensure that any development aligns with the local needs and has the necessary support measures or strategies for success. So, I submit.
HON. ENG. MHANGWA: Copying from the model of Midlands State University where there are campuses across towns within Midlands, is it not prudent that Chinhoyi University of Technology is another campus in Kadoma? I so submit.
HON. DR. SHAVA: Thank you very much Madam Speaker. I would like to thank Hon. Mhangwa for this question. Indeed, that could be another strategy which can work towards bringing education nearer to the communities that are found in every province. We need to appreciate that Chinhoyi University of Technology is a young university compared to Midlands State University which has managed to spread in other areas. Indeed, that is another plan to spread to other areas.
I think the other issue that we can also encourage is through Zimbabwe Open University that it can be able to spread because that is an open university to other cities, so I submit.
FACILITATION OF HOME OWNERSHIP FOR PENSIONERS
- HON. BONDA asked the Minister of Mines and Mining Development to inform the House on the Ministry’s plans to facilitate home ownership for pensioners from the former Kamativi Mine and to further update the House on the percentage of local people currently employed by Bravura Mining Company.
THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF MINES AND MINING DEVELOPMENT (HON. KAMBAMURA): Thank you Hon. Madam Speaker. I would like to thank Hon. Bonda for asking that question. With regard to homeownership for pensioners of the former Kamativi Mine, Bravura mining company is not responsible for facilitating housing provisions for these pensioners. The rights and obligations pertaining to Kamativi Mine reside with Kamativi mining company which is held under Government parastatal.
This company holds legal authority over the assets. Bravura's role is limited to technical and operational collaboration in the processing of the dump. However, the Ministry remains committed to engaging Kamativi mining company, local authorities and relevant stakeholders to explore sustainable solutions for former mine employees, including potential housing initiatives under corporate social responsibility frameworks or Government-led welfare programmes.
Hon. Speaker, 88% of the workforce at Bravura are currently Zimbabweans, reflecting the company's adherence to localisation policies. The remaining 12% are expatriate workers engaged in specialised technical roles. These foreign personnel are contracted on a temporal basis, with a clear mandate to transfer skills to locals before returning to their countries. This aligns with the Ministry's emphasis on capacity building and sustainable local expertise in the mining sector. I submit.
FACILITATION OF HOMEOWNERSHIP FOR PENSIONERS
- HON. BONDA asked the Minister of Mines and Mining Development to inform the House on the Ministry’s plans to facilitate homeownership for pensioners from the former Kamativi Mine and to further update the House on the percentage of local people currently employed by Bravura Mining Company.
THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF MINES AND MINING DEVELOPMENT (HON. KAMBAMURA): Thank you Hon. Member for that pertinent question. You asked the Minister to inform the House of the Ministry’s plans to facilitate homeownership for pensioners from the former Kamativi Mine and to further update the House on the percentage of local people currently employed by Bravura Mining Company.
With regards to homeownership for pensioners from the former Kamativi Mine, Bravura Mining Company is not responsible for facilitating housing provisions for these pensioners. The rights and obligations pertaining to Kamativi mine dump reside with Kamativi Mining Company which is held under Government parastatal default. This company will hold legal authority over the asset. Bravura’s role is limited to technical and operational collaboration in the processing of the dump. However, the Ministry remains committed to engaging Kamativi Mining Company authorities and the relevant stakeholders to explore sustainable solutions for former mine employees, including potential housing initiatives under corporate social responsibility frameworks or Government-led welfare programmes.
Hon. Speaker, 88% of the workforce at Bravura are currently Zimbabweans reflecting the company’s adherence to localisation policies. The remaining 12% are expatriate workers engaged for specialised technical roles. These foreign personnel are contracted on a temporary basis with a clear mandate to transfer skills to locals before returning to their resident countries. This aligns with the Ministry’s emphasis on capacity building and sustainable local expertise in the mining sector. I so submit.
HON. BONDA: Supplementary Madam Speaker. This question that I asked is so pertinent and so important that people in Kamativi are waiting to hear the response. I just wanted to have some clarity and then get a bit of a comprehensive answer about the employment part of it. When I asked about the employment of locals, I was not talking about foreigners and locals. Kamativi Mine is now flooded with people coming from other regions and the locals from Kamativi are not employed. This is the percentage that I wanted to know and not specifically about any other international employees that are there. I wanted to know how many people from Kamativi the mine employs, not the foreign Chinese people. People there are complaining because the mine is flooded with people from other regions while they remain unemployed. That was the clarification that I sought.
THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: Hon. Minister, I will just give you a minute to give clarification.
HON. KAMBAMURA: Hon. Speaker, I think according to the question that the Hon. Member had asked, he said he wanted the Minister of Mines to inform the House on the Ministry’s plans to facilitate homeownership for pensioners from the former Kamativi Mine and to further update the House on the percentage of local people currently employed by Bravura. So, at Kamativi, there are two companies which are operating there, which are Bravura and Kamativi Mining Company. Kamativi Mining Company is owned by the Chinese while Bravura is owned by some African investors. So, I answered the question according to what he had specifically asked on Bravura which employs about 88% of locals and 12% of expatriates. I thank you.
THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: Unfortunately, our time is up. Hon. D. Moyo, are you in the House?
HON. D. MOYO: Yes, I am Madam Speaker.
TEMPORARY SPEAKER: With your permission, can you please allow the Minister of Mines to submit his written response to question No. 75?
HON. D. MOYO: Madam Speaker, the question can be deferred to next week Wednesday.
THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: Thank you Hon. Moyo. Hon. Bajila, with your permission, can you please allow the Minister to submit his written response to question No. 82?
HON. BAJILA: Madam Speaker, unfortunately, that is a very topical question that will have supplementary questions on the rights of musicians in the country. We can defer the question to next Wednesday.
WRITTEN SUBMISSIONS TO QUESTION WITH NOTICE
CONSTRUCTION OF LUPANE GENERAL HOSPITAL
- HON. SIBANDA asked the Minister of Health and Child Care to inform the House on the progress made towards the construction of Lupane General Hospital.
THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF HEALTH AND CHILD CARE (HON. KWIDINI): The project is currently 22, 7% complete. Progress has stalled due to delayed payments to the contractor. While most of the buildings are over 70% complete, they now require specialised work such as tiling, installation of fire systems, oxygen piping, heating, ventilation, air cone, kitchen equipment, laundry and other related tasks to move forward.
Challenges from the contractor:
Payment delays: We have experienced prolonged periods without payments, significantly affecting progress.
Payment clarity: We request that payments be clearly specified with corresponding certificate numbers.
Currency issues: We request payments in USD as most of our suppliers sell materials and goods in this currency. Additionally our employees are no longer willing to accept ZiG payments.
REDUCTION OF MARTENAL MORTALITY
- HON. KHUPE asked the Minister of Health and Child Care to inform the House on the maternal mortality rate in Zimbabwe and the progress made towards reducing maternal mortality.
THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF HEALTH AND CHILD CARE (HON. KWIDINI): Thank you Hon. Moyo, for your inquiry regarding the maternal mortality rate in Zimbabwe and the progress made in addressing it.
We are currently awaiting the results of the ZDHS According to the Multi-Indicator Cluster Survey (2019) the maternal mortality rate was 462 per 100,000. However the most recent data from the 2022 census indicates a reduction to 362 per 100,000.
Life expectancy at birth has increased rising from 61 years to average of 65 years with women living up to an average of 68 years. Both maternal and under-five mortality rates have been on a steady decline since 2010. For example the maternal mortality rate decreased from 525 deaths per 100,000 live births in 2012 to 363 per 100,000 live births in 2022 according to the Zimbabwe Population Census Report.
The under-five mortality rate has also dropped to 39, 8 deaths per 1,000 live births. Despise these improvements institutional maternal and neonatal deaths remain unacceptably high. To address this a national wide refresher training program for healthcare workers has been implemented to improve the management of complications during pregnancy and childbirth.
Additionally, critical equipment was procured last year with support from various partners to strengthen maternal health services. Routine monitoring of health data is conducted with swift corrective actions taken when issues are identified. They haves been a concerted effort to ensure the procurement of necessary medicines and supplies to support maternal health.
AVAILABILITY OF DRUGS AT VICTORIA FALLS HOSPITAL
- HON. V. MOYO: asked the Minister of Health and Child Care to inform the House on the Government plans to improve availability of drugs at Victoria Falls Hospital.
THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF HEALTH AND CHILD CARE (HON. KWIDINI): For your inquiry regarding the availability of medicines at Victoria Falls Hospital. The Government full acknowledges the challenges faced by the hospital in ensuring a consistent supply of medicines particularly die to remote location and the logistical complexities associated with resupply. I would like to provide an overview of the current situation and the measures being taken to address these challenges. A recent assessment conducted on 04 March 2025 revealed that the overall medicine availability rate at Victoria Falls Hospital stands at 62.2 %. The breakdown of the findings shows that vital medicines are available at 65, 9%, essential medicines at 50% and necessary medicines at 35%. Availability across key categories varies as follows: blood pressure medications (72%) antipsychotics (56%), asthma medications (90%), anti-diabetic medications (80%), antibiotics and anti-infective (65%), antiretrovirals (100%), antimalarial (100%) and anti-tuberculosis medications (100%).
To improve the availability of medicines it is crucial for the hospital and district to maintain regular communication with NatPharm to facilitate times stock replenishment. Additionally the utilisation of the last-mile vehicle for pharmacy services can aid in transporting supplies from NatPharm. Furthermore the hospital should allocate up to 40% of it collections to procure medicines and sundries supplementing the supplies provided by NatPharm.
A more detailed breakdown of the availability by category:
Anti-diabetic medicines: 100% available including sufficient stock of Metformin, Glibenclamide, Actrapid, Protaphane and Actraphane.
Cardivascular medicines: 72% available with concerns regarding the stock levels of Enalapril, Nifedipine, HCT and Methuldopa.
Central nervous system medication: 56% available with shortages of Benzhexol, Chlorpromazine, Sodium Valproate and Phenytoin.
Asthma medications: 100% available including Salbutamol inhalers, Beclomethasone inhalers, Prednisolone, Hydrocortisone and Salbutamol solution.
Blood pressure medications: 72% available.
Antipsychotics: 56% available.
Antibiotics and anti-infective: 65% available.
Antiretrovirals, antimalarials and anti-tuberculosis medications: 100% available.
We are kindly requesting for more support from domestic financing to procure essential drugs and sundries for timely intervention.
PAYMENT OF AMBULANCE FEES BY PATIENTS REFERRED TO PROVINCIAL HOSPITALS
- HON. V. MOYO: asked the Minister of Health and Child Care to inform the House on the government policy regarding payment of Ambulance fees by patients referred to Provincial Hospitals.
THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF HEALTH AND CHILD CARE (HON. KWIDINI): Ambulance Fees Policy: When a patient necessitates a referral to a higher level of medical services due to the complexity of their condition or treatment requirements the financial responsibility for such referrals does not fall upon the patient.
It is the hospital that bears the Ambulance cost associated with the referral ensuring that patients have access to the required specialized care without incurring additional financial burden.
ABSORPTION OF PRIMARY HEALTH CARE COUNSELLORS INTO THE MAIN CIVIL SERVICE
- HON. JAMES: To ask the Minister of Health and Childcare to explain the Government policy regarding the absorption of Primary Health Counsellors into the main civil service and any plans in place to improve of their conditions of service.
THE MINISTER OF HEALTH AND CHILD CARE (HON. MOMBESHORA): Primary Health Counsellors play a vital role in the HIV response at the primary care level, providing both HIV prevention counselling and support for treatment adherence. They are currently employed with support from the Global Fund, with funding secured until the end of 2026.
Both the Health Service Commission and the Ministry of Health and Child Care have plans for the creation and phased migration of these critical positions into the Health Service. Once integrated, Primary Health Counsellors will receive the same benefits and conditions of service as other health workers in their respective grades.
COMPLETION OF THE DONGAMUZI CLINIC IN LUPANE DISTRICT
- HON. M. SIBANDA: To ask the Minister of Health and Child Care to inform the House when the Dongamuzi Clinic in Lupane District will be completed.
THE MINISTER OF HEALTH AND CHILD CARE (HON. MOMBESHORA): Dongamuzi Clinic is currently in the preparatory phase of its construction project. Some of the required construction materials (e.g., bricks, quarry stones) are on-site and ready for use while the outstanding materials are being procured. Construction activities are anticipated to commence in the second quarter, pending the disbursement of funds once financial procedures are initiated.
UPHOLDING OF ACADEMIC FREEDOMS IN UNIVERSITIES
- HON. R. TSVANGIRAI asked the Minister of Higher and Tertiary Education, Science and Technology Development what measures the Ministry is taking to ensure that university campuses remain free of political interference and that academic freedoms are upheld.
THE MINISTER OF HIGHER AND TERTIARY EDUCATION, INNOVATION, SPORTS AND TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT (HON. SHAVA): The protection of academic freedom and the independence of universities campuses in Zimbabwe is supported by a robust framework, including the Constitution of Zimbabwe and the Universities Act. Governance structures such as universities councils, senates and vice-chancellors are designed to uphold the autonomy of academic institutions. The primary goal of universities is to ensure that their mandates are executed as enshrined in their Universities Acts. Staff and students come from communities that are part of an ecosystem with diverse political opinions and inclinations. However, our institutions have mechanisms in place that discourage both staff and students from imposing their political views on others. Below are some of the measures in place to safeguard staff and students from political interference and violation of their academic freedoms under these two broad categories:
Staff: Governance Structures
The governance of universities lies in their Acts, Council structures, ordinances and Ministry policies. The governance structures in place have been key in ensuring that universities campuses remain free of political interference and upholding of academic freedoms.
Universities Councils are the highest governing bodies in Zimbabwean universities. They play a pivotal role in ensuring the independence of academic institutions. Composed of universities administrators, faculty members, student representatives and sometimes external professionals, these councils are responsible for making strategic decisions on the administration of the universities, including financial matters, appointment of vice-chancellors and the creation of academic policies. Universities councils are designed to be free from direct political influence allowing for academic decisions to be made based on merit and institutional goals rather than political considerations.
Universities Senates:
The Senate is another essential governance structure within our universities. The Senate is primarily responsible for overseeing academic affairs, including curriculum design, academic policies and the assessment of research. The Senate typically consists of senior academic staff and provides a forum for decision-making in academic matters. The autonomy of the Senate is critical to maintaining academic independence as it ensures that academic decisions are made by scholars, not by external political actors.
Vice-Chancellors and Academic Leadership:
The Vice-Chancellor is the chief executive officer of universities, responsible for the overall academic and administrative direction of the institution. The appointment of a Vice-Chancellor is conducted through a search and selection process managed by the universities council and political interference is typically discouraged. The Vice-Chancellor supported by senior academic leadership has the responsibility to ensure the universities’ operations adhere to principles of academic freedom, transparency and fairness.
Policies, Ordinances and Bodies Supporting Academic Freedom
Academic Freedom Policy:
Zimbabwean universities generally have policies that safeguard the right of faculty and students to pursue research, teaching and learning without political constraints. These policies are developed by universities councils and are informed by both national and international standards of academic freedom. They explicitly state that universities are places where ideas and debates can take place freely and that academics have the right to pursue research and express views without the threat from anyone.
Code of Conduct and Disciplinary Procedures:
Universities often have established codes of conduct and disciplinary procedures to protect academic freedom while maintaining a respectful and conducive academic environment. These codes ensure that any cases of misconduct or violations of academic freedom are handled in a fair and transparent manner, free from political manipulation.
The Works Council (WC) or other such body:
The Works Council or other such bodies are legally provided for in the Labour Act and universities uphold them to ensure that Staff interests are heard and resolved. The universities consistently engage with staff in this manner and to resolve matters at institutional level. To ensure that there is no political interference in staff issues, the universities normally have avoided dealing with Staff Unions directly but with its Workers Committee through Works Council. This has helped to limit discussion of matters that are specific to each universities and not global in nature or politicised.
Universities Decision making systems – Council Committees:
As per the Universities Acts, Staff or their representatives take part in the Universities Committee system which is a shared governance system. This has helped to have common positions and discuss matters objectively without ulterior motives or intentions. Staff are part of the Universities Councils and Senate and their Committees which are the key decision-making bodies of the Universities.
Legal and Policy Frameworks:
The Constitution of Zimbabwe (2013) – The Constitution of Zimbabwe is the highest legal authority in the country and provides for the protection of academic freedom. Under Section 61, the Constitution guarantees the right to freedom of thought, conscience and expression. This includes the right to receive and impart information without interference. Specifically, academic freedom is protected under the broad right to freedom of expression, ensuring that faculty, staff and students can express ideas, opinions and research outcomes without fear of reprisal.
The Zimbabwean Universities Act (1982) – The Zimbabwean Universities Act is a key piece of legislation that governs the establishment, operation and regulation of public universities. This Act emphasises the autonomy of universities ensuring that academic and administrative decisions are made by universities councils and senates. The Act stipulates that universities should operate independently of political interference, providing a structure for the governance and management of universities that prevents undue Government or political involvement in academic matters. The Higher Education Act (2006) – Another critical piece of legislation is the Higher Education Act, which alongside the Universities Act, provides a framework for the management of higher education institutions. This Act empowers universities to establish their own policies and regulations, particularly in relation to academic freedom, research and the appointment of staff. This further affirms the need for universities to remain free of political influence.
Each University has specific Universities Acts, policies and ordinances that provide a framework and clear guidelines for universities operations, staff conduct and discipline contributing to stable and predicable environment where academic freedoms can thrive. These policies and ordinances are designed to foster positive staff participation and engagement necessary for staff freedom in their academic space.
Media Engagement:
Universities have clear media engagement policies and protocols which are well communicated to staff. Universities staff appreciate that the Vice-Chancellor is the Universities Spokesperson or their delegated authority. Staff are aware that they cannot make political comments while representing their universities at any forum. However, the staff in universities have the latitude to comment on academic matters based on their research and community engagement activities. This is so as to enhance academic freedoms and is in line with our research, innovation and commercialisation drive as emancipated in the Heritage Based Education 5.0 policy model.
Students Governance Structures:
The governance structures in place have been ley in ensuring that our campuses remain free of political interference and upholding of academic freedoms for students. Below is an articulation of these structures and how they function.
Students Affairs Divisions:
The Student Affairs Divisions provides crucial support and a channel for students to voice concerns. Students present themselves as students without any political affiliation. Guided by the universities policies and ordinances these divisions advocate for a conducive living-learning environment for students where their welfare and wellbeing on and off campus is of importance. A comprehensive orientation program is put in place in each university to ensure students are well-informed about universities policies, expectations and available resources. Initiatives that promote critical thinking equip students to analyse information independently and form their own opinions are also tabled during orientation. These initiatives are very essential for ensuring academic freedom. Universities empower their Students through leadership trainings where dialogues and student representation skills are discussed. This provides a platform for students to express concerns and participate in governance structures. Respectful dialogue on all topics including politically sensitive ones, creates an environment conducive for academic freedom.
The Student Representative Council (SRC):
These are elected student leaders who represent the student body in various committees and forums of the universities and other national events. Student Representatives Councils (SRCs) serve as formal governance structures empowering students to express their perspectives and have them addressed by universities authorities. The structures are such that representation starts from the class, school and institution at large. There is no interference in these structures and academic freedom is ensured. When conducting SRC elections, student candidates are registered as institutionally registered students not as political affiliates. These elected leaders will in turn ensure student representation without any political affiliations attached. The elections are run based on a Student Union Constitution which stipulates how a student is elected into power. This constitution guards against any political interference.
To curb against any political interferences students are discouraged from wearing political regalia when campaigning for SRC posts. Also political regalia is discouraged on campus or during lecturers. They can participate in national politics during their own free time when they are not on campus.
NB: To ensure that there is no political interference in student leadership issues, the universities has avoided dealing with student unions directly but the SRC. It is based on how unions have been politicised. As such, the SRC engages with universities only on campus specific issues.
Universities Decision making systems:
To ensure that students' voices and input are not stifled, the universities have a Student Affairs Committee which has representatives from different schools, SRC leadership, Universities and Board/Council Members. The Committee discusses students' issues which are presented to the board for review and implementation. Each University's Act stipulates that Students' Representatives Council members are part of the University's Board/Council and Senate which are the decision-making bodies of the universities.
Legal and Policy Framework:
The Universities Acts, policies and ordinances provide a framework and clear guidelines for students' conduct and discipline, contributing to a stable and predictable environment where academic freedoms can thrive. They have established policies and ordinances designed to foster positive student participation and engagement in university life. This gives students the necessary freedom in their academic space.
Student Experience Provisions:
Student Social and Recreational Clubs:
Through students' clubs and organisations, the university supports students' development programmes and initiatives that empower students to be critical thinkers, decision makers and law-abiding citizens. Various student-led clubs and department-based clubs and associations provide platforms for intellectual exploration and the free exchange of ideas. Open and respectful dialogues on campus, even regarding politically sensitive topics. This is encouraged within a framework emphasising mutual respect and tolerance.
Sporting Activities:
University students take part in various sporting disciplines where they compete with students from other institutions across the country under the umbrella of the Zimbabwean Students Association (ZUSSA). In addition, they also compete in national leagues of their choice as we allow them to freely interact and integrate with their ecosystems.
Heritage-Based Education 5.0 Ecosystem:
With the coming in of the Heritage Based Education 5.0 which added two more missions to the traditional universities mission, the universities have a new thrust on promoting innovation and student industrialisation development which has differentiated our students over the past few years. What we have witnessed is that once students are productively engaged, they have little time for political involvement and have more latitude to express their academic freedom. This has been the reason why we have not had a lot of political interference at our campuses, as students are productively engaged and derive commercial value from creative energies.
The Ministry recognises that university staff and students have political rights. However, to avoid disruptions of their mandates, universities leverage their governance and institutional frameworks to provide safeguards from access that may arise from such engagements. Staff and students remain free to engage in political activities, identify with the picture. Staff and students are free to associate with their university's identity on academic and community engagement activities as defined in their mandates and strategic plans.
INFORMATION ON THE BOREHOLE PLEDGED TO DANDE COMMUNITY BY EUREKA MINE
- HON. PINDUKA asked the Minister of Mines and Mining Development to inform the house what the Ministry is doing to ensure that mining companies which extracts mineral resources plough back to the respective local communities for example as is the case with Eureka Gold Mines in Guruve.
MINISTER OF MINES AND MINING DEVELOPMENT (HON. W. CHITANDO): The Ministry of Mines and Mining Development in Zimbabwe is actively enhancing mechanisms to ensure that mining companies contribute meaningfully to local communities where they operate, as exemplified by Eureka Gold Mines in Guruve. To achieve this, the Ministry is advancing legislative reforms through the Mines and Minerals Amendment Bill, which explicitly mandates Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) as a legal obligation for mining entities.
Current Legal Framework (Mines and Minerals Act) [Chapter 21:05): Under the existing Act, there are no explicit provisions requiring mining companies to undertake CSR activities. While the law emphasize s environmental protection, safety and royalty payments to the state, it does not formally tie CSR initiatives (|e.g. community infrastructure, education or healthcare projects) to the retention of mining titles. CSR has largely been voluntary with companies like Eureka Gold Mines in Guruve setting a precedent by independently investing in local schools, roads and water infrastructure.
Provisions of the Mines and Minerals Amendment Bill:
The Amendment Bill introduces legally binding CSR obligations to institutions community development. Key provisions include:
- Conditional Mining Titles: Companies will be required to submit and implement approved CSR plans as a condition for obtaining or renewing mining licences.
- Community Development Agreements (CDAs): mining firms must negotiate and formalise agreements with local communities to fund projects aligned with their need for example clinic, schools, employment opportunities).
- Transparency and Accountability: Regular reporting on CSR expenditures and outcomes will be enforced ensuring communities benefit directly from resource extraction.
Eureka Gold Mines as a Model:
Eureka’s voluntary initiatives such as building educational facilities and improving local infrastructure demonstrate the impact of CSR. The Amendment Bill seeks to replicate such practices nationwide by making them mandatory ensuring all mining forms contribute equitably to socio-economic development in their communities.
Eureka Gold Mine has undertaken a number of Corporate Social Responsibilities since reopening in 2021. A total of USD 883.013.30 has been spent on CSR projects as follows:
|
NAME OF PROJECT |
BENEFICIARIES |
COST (USD) |
|
Walter and Sanitation- Drilled 22 Solar Powered Boreholes |
Guruve School, Guruve host communities, Guruve Growth point and Bindura City Council |
$185,000.00 |
|
Community Development Pillar – Constructed a Grey City Muroiwa Dip tank |
Surrounding host communities |
$ 35,000 |
|
Education Pillar – Donated textbooks to promote quality of education in rural areas |
Host Communities |
$ 4,835 |
|
Education Pillar – Donated 300 chairs and 300 desks |
Four primary schools and two (2) secondary schools |
$ 29,036.00 |
|
|
Guruve Primary School |
|
| Education Pillar- Payment of school fees for 30 vulnerable and disadvantaged children | Three(3) Primary Schools and One (1) secondary school in Guruve district | $ 4, 905.00 | |
| Education Pillar- Constructed two classroom blocks at Muroiwa Primary School | Host Communities and other surrounding farm. | $ 75,000.00 | |
| Community Development Pillar- Donated 20 chairs for Guruve DDC’s boardroom | All District Stakeholders | $4,400.00 | |
| Healthy Pillar- Donated 240 blankets and Linen at Guruve District Hospital | 24 Wards in Guruve District | $9.864.00 | |
| Community Development Donated fuel to different stakeholders in Guruve and Mash Central Province | Government Stakeholders and Host Communities | $42.794.00 | |
| Community Development Pillar- | Traditional Leaders and Chief | $6.200.00 | |
| Fencing of Chief Chipuriro cultural heritage centre | |||
| Community Development Pillar Relocated affected families (Construction of 29 modern homesteads) | Host Communities Affected | $465,152.30 | |
| Education Pillar – Hosted School Prize Giving functions | Chimanikire and Guruve Primary | $2000.00 | |
| Hosted Eureka Mine Business Lunch | Key Government and Community Stakeholders | $7,127.00 | |
ESTABLISHMENT OF A STATE UNIVERSITY IN KADOMA
- HON. MAMBIPIRI asked the Minister of Higher and Tertiary Education, Innovation, Science and Technology Development if the government has plans to establish a State University in the city of Kadoma so as to cater for the youth population’s tertiary education.
THE MINISTER OF HIGHER AND TERTIARY EDUCATION, INNOVATION, SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT (HON. SHAVA): Thank you Hon. Speaker Sir and thank you to the Hon. Member for the pertinent question regarding establishing a state university in the city of Kadoma.
Let me begin by affirming that the Government of Zimbabwe remains committed to expanding and equitable distributing higher and tertiary education across all provinces and districts in line with our Education 5.0 model, which seeks to foster teaching, research, community service, innovation and industrialization. Currently, our main focus is on establishing a state university in all the provinces of Zimbabwe. In light of this, those from Kadoma can go to Chinhoyi University of Technology or any other university of their choice.
Kadoma, as a growing urban centre with a strong mining and agricultural base, certainly presents a strategic case for the establishment of a higher learning institution that can support both the local and national economy. At this point, the Ministry is actively engage in feasibility studies to assess infrastructure, academic focus areas and alignment with national development goals under Vision 2020.
While there are currently no finalised plans to establish a fully-fledged state university, I wish to inform the House that the Government has plans to establish a polytechnic in Kadoma as part of our broader strategy to ensure each region has access to specialised, locally relevant tertiary education. We are also exploring the possibility of expanding existing university satellite campuses in the area which could be upgraded over time.
The Ministry welcomes further engagement with local leadership, industry stakeholders and the community in Kadoma to ensure that any development aligns with local needs and has the support for success. I thank you.
REOPENING OF BINDURA NICKEL MINE
- HON. HAMAUSWA asked the Minister of Mines and Mining Development to inform the House when the Ministry is expected to reopen Nickel Mine in Bindura considering its significance to Mashonaland Central Province and the nation at Large
THE DEPUTY MINISTER MINES AND MINING DEVELOPMENT RESPONSIBLE FOR OIL AND GAS RESEARCH AND OTHER STRATEGIC MINERALS EXPLORATION (HON. MAKWIRANZOU) : the Ministry recognises the strategic importance of the Bindura Nickel Mine (BNC to Mashonaland Central Province and Zimbabwe’s economy. However, mining operations at BNC remain suspended due to current economic unavailability. Some of the key factors impacting this decision include global nickel price decline and high operational costs. Nickel prices fell sharply form USD25, 000 to USD 15, 000 per tonne in 2023, significantly reducing revenue potential. As one of Zimbabwe’s deepest mines (1,300 meters), BNC faces exorbitant costs for ventilation, temperature control, ore hoisting and equipment maintenance further eroding profitability.
The mine is presently under administration and maintenance to preserve infrastructure and ensure environmental compliance. While legal and financial challenges require resolution the primary barrier to reopening remains the uneconomic nature of nickel extraction under prevailing market conditions. The Ministry will continue monitoring nickel prices and exploring cost reduction strategies. Resumption of operations hinges on sustained commodity price recovery and operational efficiency improvements to ensure long term viability.
On the motion of HON. KAMBUZUMA, seconded by HON. C. MOYO, the House adjourned at Nine Minutes to Six o’clock p.m.