- Version
- Download 0
- File Size 108.00 KB
- File Count 1
- Create Date May 8, 2025
- Last Updated May 9, 2025
SENATE HANSARD 08 MAY 2025 Vol. 34 No. 45
PARLIAMENT OF ZIMBABWE
Thursday, 8th May, 2025
The Senate met at Half-past Two o’clock p.m.
PRAYERS
(THE HON. PRESIDENT OF SENATE in the Chair)
ANNOUNCEMENT BY THE HON. DEPUTY PRESIDENT OF SENATE
APOLOGIES RECEIVED FROM MINISTERS
THE HON. PRESIDENT OF SENATE: I am being given this list of apologies from Ministers; Hon. General Rtd. Dr. C.G.D.N. Chiwenga, the Vice President; Hon. Colonel Rtd. K.C.D. Mohadi, the Vice President; Hon. M. Ncube, Minister of Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion; Hon. T. Machakaire, Minister of Youth Empowerment, Development and Vocational Training; Hon. N.M. Ndlovu, Minister of Industry and Commerce; Hon. A. Murwira, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Trade; Hon. K. Kazembe, Minister of Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage; Hon. E. Moyo, Minister of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare; Hon. B. Kabikira, Minister of Local Government and Public Works; Hon. Mercy Dinha, Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare; Hon. R. Modi, Deputy Minister of Industry and Commerce; Hon. Vangelis Peter Haritatos, Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Resettlement and Hon. Davis Marapira, Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Resettlement. That is the list of apologies from the Ministers.
I do not know whether there are any Ministers here. The person who prepared this list- are the Ministers’ offices the ones who sent this or maybe you just prepared? On the front bench, we only have two Cabinet Ministers as far as I can see. I think you are also embarrassed on their behalf because honestly this always happens that Ministers are not coming to Senate, maybe they see Senate as comprised of useless people. Honestly, the Senate is not happy about what is being done by Ministers. I think we are going to send our complaint to the President. I am encouraging the Hon. Senators to just work with the Ministers who are here.
In the House today we have Hon. Mhona, Minister of Transport and Infrastructural Development; Hon. Rwodzi, Minister of Tourism and Hospitality Industry; Hon. Gata, the Deputy Minister of Primary and Secondary Education; Hon. M. Ncube, the Deputy Minister of National Housing and Social Amenities, Hon. Marupi, the Deputy Minister of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services, Hon. Makwiranzou, the Deputy Minister of Mines and Mining Development; Hon. H. Moyo, the Deputy Minister Veterans of the Liberation Struggle Affairs and Hon. K. D. Mnangagwa, the Deputy Minister of Finance, Economic, Development and Investment Promotion.
ORAL ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE
*HON. SEN. BIMHA: Thank you Madam President for according me this opportunity to ask my question and it is directed to the Minister of Tourism and Hospitality Industry. We used to get information on the number of tourists who are coming to this country and the numbers are gradually increasing. After COVID-19, the figures have gone down. What plans do we have as Government to increase the number of inflow of tourists in this country?
*THE MINISTER OF TOURISM AND HOSPITALITY INDUSTRY (HON. RWODZI): Thank you Hon. President of Senate and I would like to thank Hon. Senator Bimha for his good question. Firstly, let me thank His Excellency, Dr. E. D. Mnangagwa for analysing the income generating for the whole nation. We are getting more foreign currency through visits from these tourists. This Ministry was separated from the Ministry of Industry and it is now called the Ministry of Tourism and Hospitality Industry. It was split from the Ministry of Environment, Climate and Wildfire. It was once one Ministry.
The research which was done by His Excellency showed that Ministry of Industry and Tourism should be independent so that we can earn a lot of foreign currency as a country. We are discovering that it is a positive move, looking into His Excellency's vision to say in 2030, the whole country should be an upper-middle-income society. He actually ensured that we should have some strategies to reach the targeted goal. I think that is one of the reasons why he had to split the ministries into two.
In the vision, we have a policy which we came up with. This policy should actually bring about the whole country for people to enjoy visiting the whole world and we have to compete with other tourist destinations. We have our very own heritage; namely Victoria Falls, Great Zimbabwe, Lake Kariba and Nyangani Mountains - the whole of Manicaland.
This whole country is very rich including the gold and other minerals that we have. We ended up having this strategy which we decided to say we need to split and ensure that we must have what we call heritage tourism. We should have sports tourism, medical tourism and we should also have gastronomy tourism which was mentioned by His Excellency, Dr. A. Mnangagwa. We also have religious tourism.
After doing and splitting all those like that, we now discovered that all these branches of tourism - we then analysed to say which other area brings more income or more foreign currency. That is when we started working with these tourists of the wildlife. It ensures that those international tourists can come to Hwange National Park, Malilangwe, Mana pools and all those areas, that is our cluster. We named them clusters, that is the highest tourist attracting cluster.
In this cluster, we now know what we should do to ensure that we do the advertisement of our country, Zimbabwe. All those people should come and visit. They will say if we are focusing on wildlife, we do one, two, three things. If we are doing things to do with churches, this is what we have to do. We discovered that more and more tourists are being attracted to this country. I would like to thank Her Excellency A. Mnangagwa in her gastronomy tourism which has been a centre of attraction and soon after the COVID period, the number of visitors has increased. When they came in July, it was mentioned that we were now inviting a lot of people from various countries to come and ensure that they have healthy food. In other countries like France or Italy, they visit and do all those things, which is healthy. That is what we had to copy to say, this is our food here in Zimbabwe. In France, there is a type of bread which the father of the family carries under his armpit taking it home. People actually enjoy that type of bread. That is what we call gastronomy tourism which is highly visited in other countries. Zimbabwe is one of the countries which started to talk about that. We have other countries like Ghana, South Africa and Ethiopia which were doing the same but they are not actually marketing as much as what Her Excellency is doing.
When the United Nations came into this country, they said, people used to believe that a person could be robbed in Zimbabwe because of sanctions. It opened up a lot of tourists' mindsets to say Zimbabwe was discovered to be one of the countries which is highly ranked, close to number seven or eight. The people who did the survey come from three institutions. Others ranked us sixth, others ranked us number seven and some ranked us eighth, meaning it is one of the most visited countries in 2024.
If we look into our numbers, since July after the United Nations had visited us, the inflow of tourists increased. It simply meant this destination is good, safe and it is peaceful. I thank you Madam President.
THE HON. PRESIDENT OF SENATE: I would like to notify the House that the Minister of National Housing, Minister Zhemu Soda and Hon. Minister of War Veterans, Hon. Mavhunga are now here.
HON. SEN. NCUBE: My question is directed to the Minister of Mines and Mining Development. Hon. Minister, while we appreciate the good work which is happening in the Ministry to make it robust and resilient, I would like to find out what plans you have got to resuscitate those mines which used to produce rare minerals like nickel.
*THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF MINES AND MINING DEVELOPMENT RESPONSIBLE FOR OIL AND GAS RESEARCH AND OTHER STRATEGIC MINERALS EXPLORATION (HON. DR. MAKWIRANZOU): What we simply have Madam President, is that some of our mines have since been shut. This specific mine which was referred by the Hon. Senator is Bindura Mine. In Bindura, we mine nickel. Nickel is used in various ways….
THE HON. PRESIDENT OF SENATE: Order, Hon. Minister. I do not know whether it is the only mine which mines nickel, because iwo wataura in general. That was just an example that the nickel mines, I think he meant every mine which is not working.
*HON. DR. MAKWIRANZOU: Thank you Madam President. I actually understood in mentioning nickel, that is why I went straight to Bindura. Let me speak in general.
*THE HON. PRESIDENT OF SENATE: We have other questions which were written before and we have other questions which came here, which are questions without notice. I think these are the questions which we are doing now.
*HON. DR. MAKWIRANZOU: Thank you Madam President. Like I said before, some of the mines are being resuscitated and others are under care and maintenance.
On care and maintenance, that means the mine will be protected so
that its standards will not be low, considering the reasons why the mine was shut down. Some of the reasons are that the miners might fail to have adequate technology to produce enough minerals. Some of the reasons include how some of the mines might be closed due to uncontrolled underground water. So, we will be working on the control of underground water. Other mines are actually starting. Let me speak to the mine called Kamativi. In Kamativi, we have since resumed. We are now mining lithium from there. This came simply because technology has advanced.
We have technological advancements. What we used to throw away as waste, now we can mine and purify them because we have improved technologically. I thank you.
*HON. SEN. MAVENYENGWA: Thank you Madam President. I was actually informed and understood that some of the mines are being resuscitated. I would like to understand on the asbestos mines like Mashava and Zvishavane. Are they part of the mines which are being resuscitated? This is because we have a lot of people who lost their jobs. Thank you.
*HON. MAKWIRANZOU: Thank you Madam President. On the asbestos mine, I would simply say we have not opened it yet. We are still under the discussions to say asbestos here in Zimbabwe is good. The mine was shut because we were failing to have a market for those asbestos because asbestos is named to be one of the causes of cancer. However, we have not opened the mine yet. I thank you.
+HON. SEN. S. MOYO: Thank you Madam President. My supplementary question is directed to the Minister of Mines but Hon. Senator Mavenyengwa has already taken the Shabani one. I will ask for Hwange Colliery. It once employed a lot of people but recently they are mining coal, what is the Government's position or how prepared is the Government to resuscitate Hwange Mine to its heydays because it was once a big mine here in Zimbabwe? Thank you.
*HON. MAKWIRANZOU: Thank you Madam President. I thank the Hon. Senator for the question. Hwange Colliery is working. What happens in Hwange is that when we do electricity and coal thermal power generation, there are layers that we see. Firstly, there is topsoil and then there is power coal is second layer. The third layer is industrial coal and the fourth layer is cooking coal. What happened is our power generation company at some point did not have power coal. That coal was stopped from being sold so that it would be gathered. For you to get to cooking coal, you must gather that coal. What happened is because cooking coal is the one that is the lowest, they started selling cooking coal while the power coal was being gathered. Unfortunately, power coal can produce fire if it is gathered and unattended.
So, last week I went there to see what is happening because there is Zambezi Coal and Gas Company that had their coal burnt due to instantaneous combustion. That coal that was heaped. What I am trying to rectify or measure is to quantify the amount of coal that was lost and to ascertain how much coal the Zimbabwe Power Company needs so that we can now start selling coal power.
*HON. SEN. GWATURE: My supplementary question is that, I understand the people on care maintenance under closed mines. What is Government policy with regards for them to get their monies because some of them go for two or three months without getting paid? I also live at B and C mine that you wanted to talk about. Even those that were retrenched from work, they are getting their monies in drips in ZiG, yet they had their money in US dollar. So, what is Government doing with regards to ensuring that those people get their due monies to take care of their families and some of them need money for medical bills?
*HON. MAKWIRANZOU: Thank you Madam Speaker Ma'am. I also thank the Hon. Senator for the question. The question is very wide but what is happening is that the Government wants people to live well and happily. There are some mines that will be opened by new companies like for example Kamativi Mine. It is now operating under Bravura. The former workers are now trying to negotiate with the new miners so that they get their pensions and houses. However, Government is committing itself to ensure that, so that they get fair compensation since they were former employees. Thank you.
HON. SEN. CHITSAMBA: Thank you Madam President. My question is directed to the Minister of Primary and Secondary Education. School dropouts’ rate is too high. What is the Ministry doing to lower the number of school dropouts? Thank you Madam President.
THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF PRIMARY AND SECONDARY EDUCATION (HON. GATA): Thank you Madam President. Let me thank the Hon. Senator for a good question. Yes, we have noticed that we do have quite a sizeable number of school dropouts. I would like the House to first appreciate that there are quite a lot of reasons why children drop out of school. We are doing a lot as a Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education to alleviate that problem. The first...
THE HON. PRESIDENT OF SENATE: Hon. Minister, it seems you have a small voice. Can you please go closer to the mic so all people can hear you.
HON. GATA: Thank you Madam President. Let me thank the Hon. Senator for a good question. Yes, we have noticed that we do have quite a sizeable number of school drop-outs. I would like the House to first appreciate that there are a number of reasons why children drop out of school. However, we are doing a lot as a Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education to alleviate that problem. The Ministry has embarked on an early warning system that is training all their teachers, pupils and all the staff, to identify problems before they grow. For example, we are having workshops which started in March. We are getting into the second batch of the early warning system programme now. That is just one of them. But like I indicated that there are so many reasons why children drop out of school, it might be because of the distance they walk to school, health reasons, bullying or even problems at home. We are mitigating those with this early warning system. In case of where they are walking long distances to schools, we are building schools because they should only walk within a range of five kms. Most of the drop-outs are girls because of pregnancy in areas like Mazowe and Manicaland where mining activities are going and there are people like makorokoza and business centres. So, we would like to appeal even to the House and the community that a child is raised by the whole community. Can we all come together and try to meet half way especially on the pregnancy, to look after our children properly and to bring back the heritage/ubuntu as well as teaching our children proper manners. We also have VTCs in the Ministry of Youth which absorb the youths. As a Ministry, we are doing quite a lot to reduce the number of school drop-outs depending on what the matter is. I so submit Madam President.
*HON. SEN. MAVENYENGWA: Thank you Madam President. My question is directed to the Minister of Primary and Secondary Education. I would like the Minister to tell this House their preparations for the coming opening of schools pertaining to the fact that children will soon be sitting for the June and November examinations. Also, clarification on the heritage-based curriculum and lastly, if schools will be accepting our own currency as fees because we hear that when schools open, they start sabotaging our government asking for US dollars only. Also tell us about preparations on sanitary wear, school feeding programme and the welfare of the teachers as they come back to school.
*THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF PRIMARY AND SECONDARY EDUCATION (HON. GATA): Thank you Madam President. Let me thank Hon. Senator Mavenyengwa for the important question. The Minister of Primary and Secondary Education will give a Ministerial Statement before opening of schools next week on 13th May. However, let me touch on all the questions that he asked. On the currency for fees, let me say we are a multi-currency nation. So, no school should refuse to accept our own currency because it will be pegged at the US dollar rate for the day. If any school refuses to accept our own currency, please quickly let us know through our offices in the districts, provinces or to come to our Head Office. On the issue of June examinations, we are ready and children have already been given their time-tables, they are just waiting to write.
We will also continue with the school feeding programme depending on how the Ministry of Social Welfare will provide for us. But in all our schools, we have school business units which are also assisting the children to get hot meals on a daily basis. Then on sanitary wear, we have budgeted for it to be bought. However, starting from next week, the Ministry and those they are working in collaboration with will start by giving out 700 packs of sanitary wear that we have, which also has reusable sanitary pads which they can wash. These can last for three years. So, we will start with Matebeleland North. Also, on sanitary wear, the First Lady, Mai Mnangagwa taught us to make our own reusable sanitary wear. We have plans to train two teachers from every school so they can come and teach others at cluster level. We also budgeted the money for materials to make the sanitary wear.
He also asked about the heritage-based curriculum. All our teachers went for training but it is not a new thing as such. It is almost similar to the continuous assessment learning but a bit advanced, all teachers are aware and they have all the plans. We also plan to explain to the parents what we are calling heritage-based curriculum. As a Ministry, our communication department will go out and share with everyone on the heritage-based curriculum.
Lastly on teacher welfare, we know that our teachers are very important and the welfare does not mean money only because that is catered for by their employer, the Public Service Commission. Our part is seeing to the welfare of where they stay and their transfers to ensure they are timeously done and married people are not separated. We also try to ensure that all teachers should be deployed close to their place of residence so they are able to do projects at their homes such as farming, keeping poultry and being with their families, etcetera. I thank you.
*HON. SEN. CHAPFUDZA: Thank you Madam President. My question is directed to the Minister of Health and Child Care but am now directing it to the Leader of Government Business.
*THE PRESIDENT OF SENATE: He is not here.
*HON. SEN. CHAPFUDZA: I will redirect my question to the Minister of Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion. My question is we are here to represent people, we are also in charge of oversight as well as legislation. That is why I insisted that we should pose that question. There was a motion last month on health. We talked about the bad state of affairs in the hospitals. Recently, there is a Cabinet Minister who visited the hospital after their relative fell ill. That is when there was a delegation from the ministries. Is it now Government policy that when a Minister's relative falls sick, that is when Government stands up? When we spoke, while we represent people, no action was taken. So, can we then pray that the relatives of the Cabinet Minister should fall sick?
*THE PRESIDENT OF SENATE: Hon. Senator, ask your question without emotions. You came with a very good question because that affects all but you went wrong by saying, should we pray for the Minister's relative to fall sick so the Government will take action?
HON. CHAPFUDZA: I withdraw Madam President.
*HON. SHIRI: Thank you Madam President. My question is directed to the Hon. Minister of Transport and Infrastructural Development. What measures are in place, or what are you putting in place to ensure that our travel on the roads can be good? What actions are you taking to reduce road traffic accidents? In addition, with regards to our transport, what measures are you taking to ensure it is user-friendly to people with disabilities?
*THE MINISTER OF TRANSPORT AND INFRASTRUCTURAL DEVELOPMENT (HON. MHONA): Thank you Madam President of the Senate. I would also like to thank Senator Shiri. It is sad that we are now witnessing accidents every day. We are losing lives and I would like to say to all those who lost their lives, recently there was a bus that was involved in a fatal accident and six lives were lost, may their souls rest in peace and I wish a speedy recovery to those who were injured. The sad thing is that we are losing lives every day, at an average of five lives. So, looking at the size of our country in comparison with other countries, we are not supposed to have that high rate of accidents. What is obtaining is recklessness on the part of drivers. If you look at the drivers, one was involved in an accident upon arrival into the city. It is either the driver was drunk or it is recklessness. It is not easy to have lives lost as you enter town. The President is very much saddened by that and we are working in collaboration with other Government departments and ministries together with the Ministry of Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage. We are saying the police must be on all roads but since we work with human beings, we have realised that there is corruption that ends up taking place, leading to such accidents. We are saying the Ministry of Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage very soon will use electronic systems where no bribes will be taken. We will use cameras. We are also going to work with the Traffic Safety Council of Zimbabwe. We have procured breathalysers. We are also going to procure speed cameras and very soon they will be reintroduced because we are trying to reduce accidents on the roads. Above all, all these accidents are being caused by human beings. The main cause of accidents is mainly to do with recklessness or human error. Many people are driving as if they are the only road users. It is my request to this House that if you see public vehicles being driven recklessly, please take down the particulars of the vehicle. We want to ensure that the drivers of those vehicles are fined heavily.
We are all susceptible to road traffic accidents, nobody is immune to that. There are even illegal taxis that we see around and we also use those vehicles, so we are culprits as well. For those that repair or service buses, some of them are not user friendly for people with disability. Those are some of the measures that we are doing.
+HON. SEN. MLOTSHWA: Thank you Madam President for the opportunity that you have given me and I want to thank Hon. Mhona for being a listening minister. We are witnessing that Matopos Road is now under rehabilitation. My question to the Minister is, what is Government’s policy pertaining to businesses that want to assist in the rehabilitation of the roads? Which measures can they take so that they can assist in the rehabilitation of Matopos Road from Amalinda Camp to the police post?
HON. MHONA: The Senator raised a very pertinent question that encourages all of us to work alongside the vision of the President that the country is built by its citizens. It encourages communities to collaborate in constructing roads, be it business communities or road users. That way, the spirit will lead us to achieve Vision 2030. We are encouraging that as a Ministry.
For a long time, there was no attention to roads and as a result, some of those roads are damaged because of that argument between local authorities and Government. If you see that there are poor roads in your localities please approach us as Government. As Government, we encourage the point raised by Hon. Senator Mlotshwa. As the Ministry responsible, we can provide machinery to ensure that our roads are repaired.
HON. SEN. MLOTSHWA: My question was not fully answered. If communities want their roads to be repaired, who do they talk to?
HON. MHONA: We have Provincial Road Engineers and those are the people to go to. I once circulated their numbers. I will repeat that in this Senate. In all our ten provinces, we have people in charge of road repairs. If you may allow me Madam President, I can circulate their contacts. Our policy is that these road engineers should answer to any calls 24/7 so that they know where they are supposed to repair the roads. Before Senators come to this House, they may be able to tell you when they can repair the section of the road that you are interested in.
I was once asked by Hon. Senator Chief Charumbira to inform this House, so I will come next week to inform this House on the plans of the works that you can expect on the roads in your constituencies. So, we will inform you on those plans. I thank you.
*HON. SEN. MAVENYENGWA: My supplementary question is on accidents that are increasing. I wanted to understand on road signage. I have noticed that those signs are no longer there especially the ones on speed limits. Even in urban areas, pedestrian crossing lines are no longer there. I wanted to know because someone may be traveling at high speed and you may not be aware that you need to reduce speed. I thank you.
*HON. MHONA: Indeed, some of our roads no longer have sign posts. I want to appeal to the citizenry to stop vandalising those signs. Some of the signs are actually defaced through graffiti. Some people actually remove those signs. Sometimes we need to put materials that are not reusable. We used to put metal poles but these days we are using wooden poles and the reason is because we are trying to avoid such vandalism. It does not mean that we cannot afford to put metal poles. The same applies to those barricades on the bridges. People are cutting them to recycle that metal. The spirit of vandalism within our citizens is very bad.
By the time we implement the speed limit issues, we expect all the sign posts will be put in place so that drivers may know very well whether they are using the correct speed as well as knowing the curves or any other cautions that are necessary.
HON. SEN. ZINDI: Madam President, there was a ban on riverbed mining but it looks like some are continuing with the riverbed mining. Secondly, those who were stopped riverbed mining left rivers diverted completely, the original channel and it is in chaos. There was no rehabilitation. What is the Ministry`s policy in regards to re-channelling into the original and rehabilitation of those rivers which are in a chaotic state currently? Those who are still continuing, what measures is the Ministry taking to put order in as far as riverbed mining is concerned? Remember, these rivers are the source of water for all agricultural purposes, youths in our home and everything else, is that not killing the future? I thank you
THE HON. PRESIDENT OF SENATE: I am not sure which Minister is supposed to answer your question because there is Environment and Mines in your question. Maybe, we will have the Minister of Mines and Mining Development to answer your question.
*THE MINISTER OF MINES AND MINING DEVELOPMENT (HON. CHITANDO): Thank you Madam President and I would also want to thank Hon. Senator Zindi for the question. Yes, we banned riverbed mining because it was causing siltation. We will continue with the ban.
On the second question, yes, Madam President had spoken very well that it is our Ministry that is responsible for rehabilitating rivers. The degradation of rivers is under the Ministry of environment.
Questions Without Notice were interrupted by THE HON PRESIDENT OF SENATE in terms Order Number 67.
HON. SEN. GOTORA: I move that time for Questions Without Notice be extended by 15 or 30 minutes because I notice that there are more Ministers in the House.
HON. SEN. PHULU: I second.
HON. SEN. MAVENYENGWA: Madam President, if we look at the Order Paper, we have written questions that are being overlooked which never get answered.
THE HON. PRESIDENT OF SENATE: I was told that there are no Ministers who are supposed to answer these questions here in the House.
HON. SEN. PHULU: There is the Minister of Finance.
THE HON. PRESIDENT OF SENATE: Is there any question directed to the Minister of Finance? Anyway, at the moment we are following what the whole House has agreed upon. We are proceeding with Questions Without Notice.
HON. SEN. ZINDI: Am sorry Madam President. The second part to my question has not been responded to yet.
THE HON. PRESIDENT OF SENATE: What was it about?
HON. SEN. ZINDI: The second part was in regard to river degradation which requires rehabilitation.
THE HON. PRESIDENT OF SENATE: The Minister of Mines did answer. He said it is the Minister of Environment, Climate and Wildlife who is supposed to answer your question and we do not have the Minister of Environment, Climate and Wildlife. We have the Minister of Tourism and Hospitality Industry.
HON. SEN. ZINDI: Thank you Madam President. I thought it was still the Ministry of Environment and Tourism.
+HON. SEN. NDLOVU: Thank you Madama President, my question is directed to the Minister of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services. I come from Matabeleland South. Our border areas from Bulilima up to Beitbridge get news from Botswana and South Africa. My wish was, if I could be informed on the progress that the Ministry has taken for the citizens to get news from Zimbabwe so that they are updated on the issues that happen in Zimbabwe. What development are they doing? There is a lot of development that is taking place here in Zimbabwe and they do not get that information. I would want to know what the Ministry has done so that these people can be part of Zimbabwe rather than being part of our neighbouring countries. Thank you.
+THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF INFORMATION, PUBLICITY AND BROADCASTING SERVICES (HON. SEN. MARUPI): Thank you Madam President for the wonderful and salient question that came from our Hon. Senator R. Ndlovu. As the Minister, we are looking into the issue of broadcasting, we are working tirelessly with what the Minister has brought as a question that every Zimbabwean citizen gets news from Zimbabwe and we broadcast in all the four corners of our country, regardless of the corner of Zimbabwe. Hence, we are working tirelessly to fulfil the President's mantra of leaving no place and no one behind or any person who feels as if he has been excluded when it comes to issues of development of the country, especially when it comes to getting information in real time and getting services from a broadcasting provider.
As it is right now, it is something that we are working tirelessly and we are working hand in glove with those that are working with the network providers like Econet and the ICT Department. We are working with them so that we can put our boosters that transmit our signals throughout the country. We want everyone who has a gadget to receive the signal. We place boosters and transmit towers there. This has also made us to be seen that we are working with them. We follow up in that programme that they do. Where we find that there are three or more towers, we are going with them so that we also put our towers there. As we are speaking right now, issues in areas like Mphoengs, Maseluchi and borders like Mlambapele going to Chikwarakwara, going up to Chiredzi and Mutare, we are looking at these areas that are in the border areas of Zimbabwe. It is work that is being undertaken currently that when they install their network boosters or their network transmitters, we also go with them and we put our transmitting signals there. We are doing this so that we do not compete. We are trying to make sure that we work together since we can complement each other in providing these services. Under the leadership of His Excellency, he emphasised that no one should be left behind regardless of the number where they are, people that are disgruntled by the services, their language that is not being spoken or being broadcast either on TV or on radio. This has also made us that we issue radio licences to various communities in Plumtree, we have Bukalanga radio.
When we go to Gwanda, we have Ntepe-Manama, Beit Bridge, we have Lotsha FM, Mutare going to Chiredzi we have Vemuganga and Avuxeni FM and in Hwange, we have Lyeja FM. Right now, we are working to ensure that these radio stations that are not yet functional, they will finish up the requisite processes so that they can start broadcasting. They are going to bring a report which shows us what is delaying them to broadcast since the Hon. Senator has said that there is still a need for us to update the nation on what is happening.
As I am speaking right now, tomorrow we are going to Bulawayo Montrose Studios because we have another programme that we are working on at that studio. We want Montrose Studios to be resuscitated and rehabilitated and it is almost done. Only a few touch-ups that need to be done before we invite you to come and witness the good work that we have done as a Ministry to resuscitate the Montrose Studios, which means that all the official languages in the Constitution are going to be broadcast at the studio. This is done because most of the languages found in Matabeleland North, Matabeleland South, Midlands and Masvingo will be close to Montrose Studios. The adverts that are going to be done by these people will use these local languages. The advert for the vacancies is going to be tomorrow.
We did not end up there only. As I said earlier on that we are working with other Ministries so that we can make our job perfected and to work effectively. The Ministry of Education is one of the Ministries that we have joined with to assist us in terms of programming and also educating these other languages. This comes after we survived the COVID-19 era where we witnessed that other students failed to attend school during the COVID-19 era. So, we understood that we could cover such issues by using the radio to broadcast the education services. This has made us to also view that there is need for us to promote education through the radio services. We see that by including these other 16 official languages, it will make us get involved in every programme. You will find out that by the end of August, only a few areas will remain behind. We would have covered most of the areas that are currently not receiving the signal.
This means that these areas might be the areas that have challenges in receiving the signals but we are going to continuously work with the other ministries so that we make sure that they receive the signal in each and every area. Thank you President.
HON. SEN. MOYO: Thank you Mr. President. Before I go to my supplementary there is an issue that pertains to our Ministers. These Ministers are not answering the questions that they are asked. They meander before they answer the questions. They are the ones that consume much of our time before they respond to the questions.
My question is that Hon. Senator Ndlovu…
THE HON. PRESIDENT OF SENATE: You might as well ask your question?
+HON. SEN. MOYO: My question is that Hon. Ndlovu asked about the timelines. May the Minister kindly provide us with the timelines for when people are going to receive the Zimbabwean Broadcasting Services in the borderlines services from the ZBC?
+HON. MARUPI: Thank you President of the Senate. Thank You Hon. Senator for the question. I believe that before I finish my response, we are expecting that before the end of July we will try to make sure that everyone gets the signal. The issue that we are facing is that we are facing environmental landforms like mountains, which are a stumbling block to our signal but there are ways we are trying to implement since we are working with other ministries so that we avoid and try to manoeuvre, making sure that each and every citizen here in Zimbabwe gets the signal.
HON. SEN. ZVIDZAI: Mr. President, my question is directed to the Minister of Finance. Minister, this nation established two empowerment banks. One of them is the Women's Bank and the second one is the Youth Bank. Very noble idea but Minister, these banks charge extortionate interest rates upwards of 84%. What plan does Government have to make sure that the thrust for empowerment is not disturbed by the extortionate rates of upward of 84% per annum in both the Women's Bank and the Youth Bank? I thank you.
THE HON. MINISTER OF FINANCE, ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND INVESTMENT PROMOTION (HON. D. K. MNANGAGWA)
Thank you Mr. President and thank you to the Hon. Senator for raising such a pertinent issue. Mr. President, I do agree with the Senator that our interest rates, not just for Empower Bank and the Women's Bank but for all banks on the high side. This is something that I think we have said on different platforms, but as it stands, Government policy is not to impose price controls, which means that market forces have been allowed to prevail. Banks have been allowed to charge the interest rates and the fees that they deem to be business friendly. What we have done Mr. President, is give moral suasion for these banks to consider the plight of depositors because indeed deposits are dwindling, there is no incentive for people to deposit their monies. In regards to interest rates, I would agree with the Hon. Member.
With regards to empowerment, I would not want to conflate the issues of empowerment with the institutions themselves. I do believe that most of the women's initiatives as well as for the youth are being done with funds that are meant to be revolving and not necessarily domiciled within these institutions. I would say these are two different and separate issues. The one of interest rates, bank rates, fees for now is being dealt with as a matter of moral suasion until a time when Government maybe decides that we are not on the same page with our banking and financial institutions but as far as empowerment is concerned, these funds are not tied up in what I would say high interest rate banks. I am citing maybe particularly the youth funds that have come in. Naturally, if one is to borrow from the women's bank, then this is going to be a transaction of a commercial nature and would be subject.
Mr. President, we will allow the market forces to play as per Government policy and continue with the moral suasion until a time when Government has reached an impasse with these banks.
THE HON. DEPUTY PRESIDENT OF SENATE: I would say this also includes bank charges. They are very high to the extent that it discourages people to keep money in the bank because if you put USD100 in a bank, in about three or four months time, it will be finished. So, it discourages people from saving and that is contrary to the policy of Government which wants to encourage people to save.
HON. SEN. ZVIDZAI: My follow-up is that the Empower Bank for the youth and the women's bank, both benefit from cheap money because they are enjoying prescribed asset status. They get money from the pension schemes and et cetera. What is the justification for that, particularly for the empowerment issues because these are different from these commercial banks? These are deliberate efforts to assist the poor and the disadvantaged and the money is accessed at very cheap rates from pension funds through prescribed assets. What is the justification for these very high interest rates particularly for empowerment purposes?
HON. D. K. MNANGAGWA: I think the Hon. Senator now delves into a business case or operational issues of banks. When it comes to some of the empowerment banks and the women's banks, yes, they might be receiving funds that would be considered cheap but one does not know what the level of default is. Henceforth, that needs to be offset in some way. So, in that regard, I will be unable to answer what it is exactly their business model is but in general, I do agree on the issue of interest rates and the bank fees. I would say that Government and this august House are on the same page but Government policy as it stands Mr. President, is to allow the market forces to play, allow the banks to decide the rates and the fees that they charge up until a time maybe when we take a different direction. But for now, Mr. President, it is the market forces at play and moral suasion.
I would hope that the banks and financial institutions realise that high interest rates, high fees, are a disincentive to deposits, which means that if there are less deposits, there is less money that they can lend and there is less income that they get from the interest of lending. So, it becomes a self-defeating cycle. I would stand by my previous submission Mr. President and say that we share the concern of these high interest rates and high fees. We will continue on the moral suasion and engagement route until such a time that we are fully convinced that we are at an impasse.
*HON. SEN. CHIEF BUNGU: What is the difference between the old and the current banks because in the past we used to submit our bank books for deposits of interests yet these days we no longer get interest?
*HON. D. K. MNANGAGWA: The banks are the same. The difference is how they now operate. In the past, banks would make their money through issuing out loans. They would make their profit from the interest they make but these days, banks get their money through bank charges such as swiping. So that is what we are saying as a Government.
We expect the banks to go back to the traditional or conventional way of doing banking but at the moment, we will not force banks to charge what we want. We want them to operate according to how they see themselves profitable. We will continue negotiating but if we realise that talks are not yielding, we will sit down as a Government to find a better solution.
*HON. SEN. GOTORA: My question is directly to the Minister of Finance. In this Parliament, we approved mining levies especially to the black granite mining companies to ensure that the areas where mining takes place get development as a way to replace social responsibility that they are no longer implementing. My question is, when are you going to disburse those funds to the local authorities so that they help with development programmes in those areas where mining is taking place?
THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF FINANCE, ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND INVESTMENT PROMOTION (HON. D. K. MNANGAGWA): Yes, indeed this Parliament put in place a 2% levy for granite mining companies as well as other minerals. There are talks that are ongoing between the Minister of Finance as well as the Local Government, to address how that fund will be used. It may be difficult for that fund to be taken to the local authority because the local authority also has a budget and it has its needs. So, I think we need to sit down as all stakeholders and see how we can ring-fence that fund and how it can be used as well as who the monitoring authority will be. I think that issue is being looked into on how it will work without any disturbance from anyone. I thank you.
HON. SEN. TSHABANGU: Thank you Mr. President. My question is directed, I think we share the same mind with Hon. Senator Gotora but I will put it differently, it is directed to the Minister of Finance. Our roads, Minister of Finance, I know the Minister of Transport is here. Today, I will act on his behalf. Our roads are deplorable and are a death trap in a way. Why are fuel levies such as strategic levy, Zimbabwe National Road levy, NOCZIM levy not being utilised by the Ministry of Transport for their intended purposes of road maintenance and management? We have seen this world-over that such levies are channeled to the Ministry of Transport for road rehabilitation. Why is the Ministry of Transport not having access to such levies? I thank you.
THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF FINANCE, ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND INVESTMENT PROMOTION (HON. D. K. MNANGAGWA): Thank you Mr. President, the nature of our tax collection is that while different tax sets have been disaggregated, your different levies, VAT, IMTTs, they all accumulate to the Consolidated Revenue Fund. True to its name, it is a consolidated fund. What this means is that one is then not able to tell whether it has come from the levy or not, but it has come from the pool of funds. Depending on resource constraints and what is priority at the time, the Treasury allocates such funds. If it is the Hon. Senator's desire that some of these funds be ring-fenced specifically for roads, I think that becomes a different story. I would like to say Mr. President, when it comes to roads, I think the thrust of the Second Republic in funding and financing these roads was to show that indeed Zimbabweans, through our own financing, can actually fund a road, build a road up until completion.
Ordinarily, we do not want to use short-term financing which is our taxpayers' money for a long-term asset which is a road. What the Ministry of Finance has been doing is first of all, for the roads that are already completed, these ones are being offered for asset recycling, which means that an investor can come in, adopt an existing road to unlock financing to do a new existing road and that essentially we have unlocked capital raised from the funds that have already been outlaid for the existing roads.
We are also giving these roads and toll gates prescribed asset status to allow for our pension funds to participate in the building of the country and the roads. As it is Mr. President, our pension funds have their monies tied in buildings downtown. These buildings are empty and no rentals are coming in, which means that pensioners are not getting any money. Meanwhile, our pension funds have very large balance sheets. We are encouraging as part of their prescribed asset status that they get involved in some of these infrastructure projects that have cash flows.
If a toll gate is giving USD2 every day, that is already USD2 going to pensioners. So, this is the new thrust that we would want to get private players to participate in road infrastructure as well as some of our public infrastructure. I would urge that we not only look at just a collection of revenue for the roads so that Government can also focus on some of the social services that are lacking but encourage private sector participation to allow us to leapfrog and do it a bit better and faster. The private sector will always move faster, better and can raise more financing than Government. I thank you Mr. President.
HON. SEN. PHULU: Thank you Mr. President. I rise in terms of Order 94 to make a point of personal explanation. Earlier, I raised a point of order in which I alleged that the barrage of questions which I had and other Members had, had gone for a long time without being answered. I have gone through all the Hansards and I realised that all those questions were in fact answered.
I would like to apologise for the scurrilous allegation that I made that the questions were not being answered. It turned out, in fact, the Ministers have been doing an excellent job. I would like to apologise particularly to the Deputy Minister of Finance because my particular question on the 27th of March was answered in detail. It was about the conference in Victoria Falls. I thank you Mr. President. I hope my apology is accepted. Thank you.
THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF FINANCE, ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND INVESTMENT PROMOTION (HON. D. K. MNANGAGWA): Apology accepted Mr. President.
THE TEMPORARY PRESIDENT OF SENATE (HON. SEN. KAMBIZI): Yesterday, Hon. Senator Zvidzai wound up his motion on an issue which is very close to all our hearts. We are fortunate that the Deputy Minister of Energy has come and would like to respond to the issues which were raised by Hon. Senator Zvidzai. After that, I will give Hon. Minister Jesaya to also respond to a very important issue of sporting infrastructure.
MINISTERIAL STATEMENT
RESPONSE TO THE MOTION ON BLENDING OF FUEL WITH ETHANOL
THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF ENERGY AND POWER DEVELOPMENT (HON. SIMBANEGAVI): Thank you Mr. President. I rise to give responses on the adjourned debate on motion on the blending of fuel with ethanol by Hon. Senator Zvidzai.
The Hon. Senator was urging the Minister to ensure that local suppliers of ethanol supply this product at prices commensurate to lending costs of importing ethanol and demanded that the local ethanol is supplied to blenders at a uniform price by all producers and called for the ensuring that some of the fuel is not blended to allow the choice to procure fuel that is compatible with their vehicle engines.
Mr. President, my response is to seek to address all these sentiments as raised by the Hon. Senator Zvidzai as well as some of the sentiments raised from the debates in the Senate, especially the sentiment that blending is not a viable option and results in more expensive fuel than the unblended one; that it enriches a few individuals at the expense of the majority poor among other ills. To give a background to the issue of blending with ethanol, Mr. President Sir, blending of petrol started during the Rhodesian era as an import substituting measure. When we say import substitute, we are saying it is the replacement of imports with locally produced goods to reduce reliance on external sources. Rhodesia was under sanctions then due to its unilateral declaration of independence from Britain and hence sought home grown solutions to the fuel challenges that the regime was facing. Triangle was the sole producer of ethanol at that time. The blending of petrol with ethanol continued after independence, only stopping in 1992 when drought destroyed the entire sugarcane crop. Starting year 2008, the government working with Triangle started to make efforts towards resuscitating petrol blending by waiving duty. Government assisted Triangle to import equipment that the company required for the production of anhydrous ethanol. Green Fuel also began to construct an ethanol plant in Chisumbanje and Government granted the Green Fuel project national status; equipment required for the project was therefore imported duty-free. This demonstrates the importance that the Government of Zimbabwe places on the production of ethanol specifically and biofuels in general.
The main reason for re-introducing petrol blending is that Government was driven mainly by the need to improve security of fuel supply in the country through local production. Ethanol which is produced locally is not likely to be susceptible to supply disruptions that occur outside the country as does imported petrol. The time when Government sought to revive ethanol production was the worst period for Zimbabwe in terms of fuel shortages. So, security of fuel supply was one of the main drivers for introducing petrol blending and still is.
Other benefits of petrol blending are that the world is currently undergoing a trend of going green and to gradually move away from fossil fuels like the imported petrol and diesel towards bio-fuels. In our case in the form of ethanol and bio-diesel. Mr. President Sir, let me try to explain what bio-fuels are. Biofuels are organic matter such as agric waste, crops like corn and algae that are converted into fuel. They are used in various forms such as ethanol, bio-diesel and bio-gas. These can be solid, liquid or gaseous, hence the reason why we have ethanol that is produced from sugarcane waste. This therefore means that Zimbabwe has to pay attention to best practices with the production and use of bio-fuels. The bio-fuels policy of 2019 promotes the development and use of bio-fuels and aims at consistent petrol blending of E20, which is 20% ethanol to 80% fossil petrol. The introduction of diesel blending starting at B2, which is 2% bio-diesel to 98% fossil diesel by 2030. However, during off season when there is not a lot of sugarcane available in Zimbabwe, blending can go down to even E5, which is 5% ethanol and 95% fossil petrol.
Currently, there is activism worldwide against fossil fuels because they emit lots of greenhouse gases that cause climate change. Not only is ethanol more environmentally friendly as compared to petrol, but the cane in the fields also act as a carbon sink absorbing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. In addition, the vehicles of the future shall be those that use cleaner fuels. Some will run on electric batteries, some 100% on bio-fuels and some on gas. Therefore, Government needs to continue to support the development and use of bio-fuels to keep pace with international developments. The use of cleaner fuels results in a cleaner environment in which people breathe cleaner air. This is good for public health because it reduces respiratory and other none pollution related illnesses.
The production of ethanol provides significant employment both directly and indirectly. In addition to employing direct labour, ethanol producers contract local communities to grow sugarcane for them, thereby giving local communities a source of livelihood. Ethanol producers also give back to their communities in a variety of ways such as offering tillage services, vocational training, apprenticeships, educational support and assistance on running micro projects, thereby improving the standards of living of such communities. Ethanol producers also contribute to Government revenues through payment of relevant taxes. Mr. President Sir, I must emphasise that blending does not increase the price of fuel. Some can argue that locally produced ethanol is more expensive than petrol but this is not always so. People tend to compare the price of ethanol.
The production and use of ethanol does not benefit a few individuals as alleged. Ethanol is produced by companies, not individuals. These companies employ people directly and indirectly in their thousands. Ethanol producers undertake corporate social responsibility initiatives that benefit the communities. Because ethanol is a biofuel, its production and use helps in mitigating climate change and also assists in the improvement of public health through reduced pollution. There was also the issue of protection of property rights as enshrined in the Constitution. I want to urge this House that fundamental human rights like any other rights, as indicated in Section 71 (2) should be read subject to Section 86 which allows derogations from the enshrined fundamental human rights among the limitations allowed by section 86 on matters of public health and general public interest. It is the Ministry's view that they are compelling public policy reasons for the requirement that vehicles use petrol that is blended with ethanol.
This is an enforcement of Section 73 of the Constitution itself which accords every person the right to an environment that is not harmful to their health or well-being. Therefore, measures to enforce this right include the prevention of pollution and use of natural resources while promoting economic and social development. While the Constitution provides for fundamental human rights, it also demands that such rights be exercised with due regard to the rights and freedoms of others. One may claim their property rights in the form of vehicles, yet the use of fossil fuels in those vehicles affects the environmental rights of not only others but even the claimants themselves as the effects of climate change are not selective. I so submit.
HON. SEN. ZVIDZAI: Thank you Mr. President. I wish to, before I seek my clarification, thank and appreciate the response of the Minister. There could be a few views that are different between myself and as mover of the motion but I do appreciate that she has taken time to look at these submissions thoroughly, researched and came to this august House to present it as she has done. So, I wish to express my appreciation and perhaps to urge her to speak to compatriots out there that the Senate is desirous of listening to them as they respond to our submissions.
My point of clarification is very strongly technical and it is related to issues of cost of blended fuel versus unblended fuel and I am not talking pen to pen, I am talking about if you take a litre of ethanol and burn it, you get so many kilojoules of energy. If you take a litre of hydrocarbon fuel, you get three times X. So, in there, if you look at the proper cost Hon. Minister, you will realise that using ethanol is more expensive because for the same amount of litrage, you cover less distance. This is a debate that I invite you perhaps out of this House so that we can compare our chemistry and see which is the correct position. I can assure you Mr. President, the correct position is that a litre of ethanol does not go the same distance as a litre of carbohydrate fuel. That is why I would request the Hon. Minister to perhaps give this House clarification, particularly with respect to that aspect.
Secondly, because your litre of ethanol costs $1.20 and your litre of hydrocarbon is equal, but the one gives you three times the energy. This is where the conundrum is. Further to the sold idea that when you burn ethanol you get less carbon dioxide, it is untrue chemically because if you burn a litre of ethanol, you get much more carbon dioxide than when you burn hydrocarbon fuel. I agree, your octane rating of ethanol is much higher than that of carbon fuel but it generates more carbon dioxide, which is your green outburst. I thank you.
*HON. SEN. ZINDI: I am just seeking clarification from the explanation made by Hon. Senator Zvidzai. I actually understood what he was saying. Do you think it might be a challenge for the Minister to speak to those ethanol producers to reduce the selling price for their ethanol compared to that of fossil fuels? Also, the explanation that he said, fossil fuels, they take time to produce as compared to ethanol. Is it a challenge? Also, the issue to do with the damage which they do to the engines of the vehicles, is it very difficult? I am seeking clarification from the Hon. Minister because people will have lost a lot of money in repairing those engines. I thank you.
THE TEMPORARY PRESIDENT OF SENATE (HON. SEN. KAMBIZI): I will allow the Minister to respond to that request. Secondly, Hon. Senator Zvidzai, you also challenged the Hon. Minister outside this House. I will give you a ring outside. But in here, I just want the Hon. Minister to respond if she has anything to respond to what you have said. Since you have already drawn a boxing ring outside, which is good, it is an academic ring. Hon. Minister, if you have anything to respond to that, very briefly.
HON. SEN. ZINDI: On a point of order.
THE TEMPORARY PRESIDENT OF SENATE: What is your point of order?
HON. SEN. ZINDI: My point of order is, it should be for the benefit of the House other than having a ring outside. I also felt educated in terms of the variances and the costs that are involved. So, it should be in this House where we should also bring that knowledge.
THE TEMPORARY PRESIDENT OF SENATE: I get you Hon. Member, I am also allowed to joke. That is why I have given the Minister an opportunity to stand and say something because I know Hon. Senator Zvidzai was also joking.
THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF ENERGY AND POWER DEVELOPMENT (HON. SIMBANEGAVI): I am not sure which language to use because the other Hon. Member asked in English and the other one in Shona. I want to thank the Senator for seeking further clarification as he did in terms of some of the technical issues that he has raised such as distances that are travelled when you are using unblended versus blended petrol.
I must say that these are arguments that have also been raised before that have also been brought forward to the Ministry. These are issues that have also just been raised in terms of theory and there is no practical evidence that shows that using unleaded petrol is better than using blended petrol. There has not been any significant evidence that shows that effect. As I have said Mr. President, studies have been conducted that we have done as Government, through the University of Zimbabwe, where we have also tried to balance blending proportions from 5%, 10% and 15%. These have shown to be of no consequence actually. The rate of blending has no effect. It is just relative to arguments that are put across by various sectors of consumers. Some will say we need to blend using E5 and some will say we need to blend using E20. They are just arguments that are put across academically and there has not been any significant scientific evidence to the effect that blending causes harm to any type of engines.
As Government, as I have said earlier when I was putting across my responses in terms of the rights, people could push forward the issue of right to property or their right to be using a certain commodity vis-à-vis another. We have said the number of people that are coming across wanting to use these types of engines that are specifically designed to use unleaded petrol are so few and they are in the minority. As Government, we cannot be putting across policy that covers the minority vis-à-vis the majority of people as their rights do not overshadow the rights of others as indicated in the Constitution. There are always limitations when it comes to issues of rights. In as much as they have their rights and their rights should also be considered but their rights do not supersede the common good as indicated in the Constitution.
The fact that there is more carbon emission in ethanol than any other type of fossil fuel, I do not know maybe Senator Zvidzai has indicated, I could go back and have more debate with technical people. As I have indicated earlier, these are more academic arguments than them being scientifically proven. Ethanol is a fuel that comes from organic matter and from my own understanding as a layman, I do not believe that organic matter can produce that much carbon dioxide as the Hon. Senator has indicated when we compare it to fuels like diesel and petrol that they can emit if they are not blended.
As to the issue of price, I think the Senator indicated that 1 litre of ethanol is USD1.20 and 1 litre of unblended is also USD1.20 - is that correct Hon Senator? I just wanted to get clarification so that I could also explain to him that 1 litre of ethanol is used in five parts to 1 litre of petrol because it is only 20% that is used for blending. So, you divide the USD1.20 into five, so that makes it cheaper. I thank you.
THE TEMPORARY PRESIDENT OF SENATE: Hon Minister, there was another clarification by Hon. Senator Zindi.
HON. SEN. ZINDI: She has not responded to my request which you actually acknowledged or indicated that it is more of a request than clarification in regards to the cost and the expense on the public motorists they incur once the engines have been destroyed. I thank you.
HON. SIMBANEGAVI: I have not agreed that there is harm to engines when they use unleaded petrol. So, the Hon. Senator’s clarification is not clear to me because there has not been any agreement that the use of blended petrol causes harm to engines. I do not think that there is any financial loss to people who have these types of engines. It is just an argument and there is no evidence to it.
MOTION
BUSINESS OF THE HOUSE
THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF VETERANS OF THE LIBERATION STRUGGLE AFFAIRS (HON. SEN. MOYO): I move that Orders of the Day, Numbers 1 to 6 on today’s Order Paper be stood over until Order of the Day Number 7 has been disposed of.
Motion put and agreed to.
MOTION
OVERHAUL OF DILAPIDATED STADIA
Seventh Order read: Adjourned debate on motion on the deplorable sports infrastructure in the country.
Question again proposed.
HON. SEN. DR. CHIEF NGUNGUMBANE: Thank you Mr. President for allowing me this opportunity to add one or two words to this very important motion about the state of our stadia in the country. I would want to thank Hon. Senator Tshabangu for moving this motion that this House takes note of the deplorable conditions that do exist.
First and foremost, we all agree as a House that gone are the days when we used to take sports as a form of recreation. Sports is now an industry like all other industries in our sector. If you look at the best paid people on this planet today, they are people in the field of arts, sports and culture. I remember the fight by Tyson Fury held in December last year, if I am not mistaken, he received more than USD100m as his purse money. As Hon. Members in this House, we cannot earn that money. We fall far short of that money. I believe that Government must view sports differently from the way it has been viewed.
Secondly, Hon. Senator Tshabangu asked this House to persuade CAF so that we may be allowed to play our games at home. Mr. President, I do not totally agree. CAF is an organisation, a continental body that has rules and regulations that puts standards which all Member states must adhere to. For us to engage CAF, is not the correct way. The correct way is to ensure that our stadia meet the standards of CAF.
Mr. President, as of the last round of Africa Cup of Nations, it was reported that 21 out of the 53 countries, which represents 40%, were playing their games in foreign lands, outside their countries.
When I think of it Mr. President, this is an unwanted precedent of me having to go to my neighbour's kitchen in the morning to cook breakfast, go back at lunch to do the same, dinner the same and at times I am told that that kitchen is not available at that particular time because the owners want to use that kitchen. It is so embarrassing. I remember our National Team wanted to use Moses Mabhida Stadium in South Africa. They were told that they could not use it. It was occupied. They had to find an alternative to a country like Zimbabwe. This is embarrassing. We deployed the relevant authorities, starting from the Ministry, councils and even Parliament, to ensure that this embarrassing scenario does not take place.
I think the other thing that I should note is that who really owns our stadium? I am thinking of Gwanzura in Harare, go to Gwanzura Stadium today, it is in a deplorable situation,, go to Rufaro, it is in a deplorable situation. Just passing through Rufaro, you do not need to go in and there are other centres that used to be sports facilities today that could be used by our youths as leisure resorts, as areas where they could fine-tune their skills. Those areas, have been run down. I believe for us to enjoy sports as a country, we need Government to come to party. They have, but they have not done enough.
We also need the private sector to come in. I want to recommend Government for the efforts that they are putting in place ensuring that the National Sports Stadium fits modern and global trends but I am thinking of Rufaro, Barbourfields and Ascot. Mr. President, these stadiums were built a long time ago. The structural defects and the renovations that should be carried out would require that we totally bring these stadiums down and start constructing new stadiums. I believe as a country, we will be able to host various tournaments like your CAF Championships, your CAF Champions League and even the CAF tournaments because CAF is moving away from hosting tournaments, maybe in one or two cities.
Like the forthcoming tournament, CAF is saying, for every city, let us have it in one city. With us it is predominantly Harare and Bulawayo and nothing else. Those stadiums that could almost fit CAF standards. I went through a CAF report of October 2023, which stated that National Sports Stadium, for it to be certified a CAF approved stadium, it must have various recommendations and it is good that the Minister is here and our appeal is that they religiously follow and ensure that the National Sports Stadium meets the set criteria. As I was alluding to earlier Mr. President, if we have six, seven cities building their own stadiums, what benefit does it bring to this country?
Firstly, it will certainly create employment. The construction of the stadium will reduce unemployment. Secondly, it will boost our infrastructure development. We will be able to host other tournaments besides sports using that infrastructure. The owners will be able to generate revenue from that stadium. As I was researching for this motion, I went through a report. You know in South Africa there is a cup final that will be played over this weekend. Orlando Pirates and Kaizer Chiefs. You know PSL and the organisers invite these stadium owners to make bids to say we want to host this final, this tournament.
What is the benefit? If we were to look at previous precedents in South Africa, Moses Mabhida has managed to host previous finals over the years, mainly because of that stadium in Durban. The Government of Kwazulu Natal is able to generate more than 10 million rands when a cup final is played at the Moses Mabhida Stadium. I am saying, if we improve our stadium and we copy and emulate the formula used in South Africa, we are able to generate as a sporting industry, money that can contribute to our GDP. Imagine Moses Mabhida is now hosting, this should be the third final in South Africa, in their soccer season, from August 2024 to May when the season ends, 2025.
That is about 30 million? The Government of KwaZulu Natal is benefiting. If we build our stadium, we could link overlapping benefits like tourism because when people go to Moses Mabhida, they have an opportunity to visit the beach. They have an opportunity to experience the rich cultural heritage of the Zulu people of South Africa and what can stop us as Zimbabweans from reaping such benefits? However, Mr. President, in so doing, most of our stadiums, I think, save for the National Sports Stadium, are run by local authorities. If you look at matches that are played by Division 1 and PSL matches, the clubs are complaining. They are charged in excess of 30% of their gate takings, councils take 15%, Sports Commission 6%, PSL takes another chunk and ZRP takes another chunk. Mr. President, we are saying these clubs need to grow. They are paying for a service, so they should reap a benefit but I do not know whether this money is channelled into proper use when the clubs pay that 15%. To me, it is quite a lot.
If our sports industry is to develop, we need to review the money that we charge for the use of our stadiums. Some of them are still substandard for FIFA and CAF standards. My appeal is also directed to the Zimbabwe Republic Police. Yes, those days when we used to take sports as a recreation, police would come in to offer service because it was a recreational thing. It was not within their line of duty.
Mr. President, you will agree with me, sports is an industry. Clubs must not be paying police for a constitutional obligation of providing security. The security at the stadium is no exception. If we are to realise more revenue from our gate takings from stadiums, I think there is a serious need to review that taxing model. I believe the taxing model is overtaxed. It does not offer incentives for people to invest in sports. I will give you one example, boxing; one of the promoters had to transfer a boxing bout from Harare to Lusaka because we were charging too much. I think they needed about US$15 000 to host a boxing tournament. This promoter went to Zambia and the City of Lusaka offered better incentives for the use of their facilities.
We need to address the issue of over taxation in our sporting industry. We are exporting our raw talent to other countries so that they benefit and there is no benefit that comes home. Next thing, Zambia amongst other countries is going to offer citizenship to those sporting persons because they have got a specialist skill. They are bringing in a specialist benefit.
In conclusion, I want to support the motion and say, let us take sports seriously. Let us take sports as an industry and offer an environment that is conducive for the infrastructure development of our local stadium in Zimbabwe.
This motion should not be confined to the stadiums only but to schools and colleges where these kids are taught basic skills in various sporting disciplines. I urge the Minister of Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion and the Minister of Sports, Recreation, Arts and Culture, to consider this motion seriously. Look at cricket, we used to compete with the best players. Rugby and cricket, we used to compete at the World Cup and for soccer, we used to qualify. Right now, we have become a laughing stock.
I believe in developing sports, there is need for the Minister of Sports, Recreation, Arts and Culture to engage with other stakeholders. Honestly, if a child is not academically gifted, why can you not put that person in a facility where they will play soccer? They go to school but specialise in soccer. We used to have vibrant academies that produced a plethora of superstars. The stadiums and academies that we are talking about have been run down.
We need also to revamp our education system when it comes to sports. If it is athletics, it should not be done first term and end there. A child that is gifted in athletics should not meet or do athletics the following year in the first term. Same applies for one that is an expert in cricket, rugby and soccer because this is predominantly played in the second and third term. Let us tap those kids into nature and develop those talents so that we can go back to the yesteryears where Zimbabwe was a force to reckon in our sporting discipline.
With those words, Mr. President of Senate, I want to thank the mover and thank you for the opportunity that you have granted me to share my words on this important motion. I thank you.
THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF SPORTS, RECREATION, ARTS AND CULTURE (HON. JESAYA): Thank you so much Mr. President of Senate. I want to take this opportunity as well to thank the Hon. Senator for that very comprehensive, fruitful and profound debate. I enjoyed listening to it. I wish I was in this House to listen to all the Senators who debated on the state of our sports facilities. Indeed, I fully agree with what the Hon. Senator has said, to say that sports have evolved into becoming a significant industry which contributes not only to national pride but it also looks at the economic growth of a country as well as social cohesion.
As he was debating, I picked quite a number of points which are not captured in the response that had been prepared for me today. He spoke about us coming up with a solution that touches on all sport codes. He mentioned the issue of boxing. So, I want to plead with you, with your indulgence Mr. President of Senate, to allow me to go back to the Ministry and look at the main point that had been raised when this debate was being done in the House and come up with a comprehensive answer that covers everything as the response that I have here is only focused on the national sports stadium. Thank you.
THE TEMPORARY PRESIDENT OF SENATE (HON. SEN. KAMBIZI): Granted, you can.
HON. SEN. ZVIDZAI: I move that the debate do now adjourn.
HON. S. MOYO: I second.
Motion put and agreed to.
Debate to resume: Tuesday, 13th May, 2025.
On the motion of THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF VETERANS OF THE LIBERATION STRUGGLE AFFAIRS (HON. H. MOYO), the Senate adjourned at Two Minutes past Five o’clock p.m. until Tuesday, 13th May, 2025.