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SENATE HANSARD 19 DECEMBER 2024 VOL 34 NO 21
PARLIAMENT OF ZIMBABWE
Thursday, 19th December, 2024
The Senate met at Half-past Two o’clock p.m.
PRAYERS
(THE HON. DEPUTY PRESIDENT OF SENATE in the Chair)
MOTION
BUSINESS OF THE HOUSE
HON. SEN. GOTORA: I move that Orders of the Day, Numbers 1 and 2 on the Order Paper be stood over until the rest of the Orders of the Day have been disposed of.
HON. SEN. MBOHWA: I second.
Motion put and agreed to.
MOTION
REPORT OF THE ZIMBABWE GENDER COMMISSION FOR THE PERIOD 2023
Third Order read: Adjourned debate on motion on the Report of
the Zimbabwe Gender Commission for the period 2023.
Question again proposed.
*HON. SEN. MBOHWA: Thank you Mr. President for affording me time to debate on this report. I would also want to thank Hon. Senator M. Mutsvangwa and the Gender Commission who managed to gather all the information, which was combined and produced a report after they went to different countries and engaging with Committees in a bid to make sure that the laws which have something to do with gender are being fulfilled.
I commend the Gender Commission for their work. They are working tirelessly to make sure that the position and lives of women are being uplifted. The Commission is working very hard and making sure that they uplift everyone’s life from the grassroots up to the top. Looking at our history as Zimbabweans and our ubuntu, we used to know women as people who are loyal to their husbands. Their place is to just take care of their families, giving birth, looking for firewood and fulfilling men’s sexual desires. Right now, we had another vision through our Government and got into agreement with different countries and organisations, which saw the country developing or improving the livelihoods of women.
I believe that the Government did very well by awarding us the opportunity to have a Gender Commission. If you develop a woman, you would have developed the whole country. I say so because even in the family, when you have a business, the woman takes care of business but the man can steal the proceeds and use it for other benefits and not the family. This means that the corruption of men does not start outside but in the family. When it comes to women, they take into consideration their family.
In the mining sector, when women are engaged and get the minerals, they send the minerals where they are expected to be sold but when it comes to men most of them sell their minerals in dubious ways but I am not saying the women are correct. Some women are engaging in corrupt activities but the percentage is low compared to men. Even if you look at the money that is being borrowed by women and their roles, I did not say women do not steal but most of those who are stealing are men. I wanted to say in terms of mineral mining, women tend to send the minerals to the intended beneficiary which is the Government. Most men are involved in corrupt activities. Even in the black market, most men are the ones who are involved. If it comes to women, they are very trustworthy and know how to manage finances.
If you look at the small to medium enterprises businesses for women, they are the ones who are moving the SMEs department to the extent of 70%. Even women who are employed by SMEs are over 75%. When a woman is working or doing something, you see that there is a trait of a woman who is working. Gender Commission is doing exceptionally well to make sure that there is equality between men and women. The Gender Commission saw that the women are very pertinent in the development of the country. The plea by the Gender Commission to increase the budget for women, we accept it with two hands. We want to thank the Minister of Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion Prof. M. Ncube for the voice of the women in the National Assembly when they debated the budget for women which was increased. We are also pleading for a continuous increase so that women can improve from SMEs to become manufacturers and become runners and CEOs of business companies.
Right now as women, we are lacking in terms of finances to improve our business, hence we are expecting the Minister of Finance to allocate more funds to the Women’s Affairs to make sure that the jobs or the initiatives done by the women are being improved. Mr. President, I can say a lot of things but I am happy that as women, we can raise our issues through the Commission where it is advocating for equality between men and women. May the Government increase the budget for cancer equipment? In the past, men used to talk on behalf of us but right now we have been given the platform to say our voice.
I also want to thank the Government for awarding the initiative to give voice to the women even the Members of the august House and the males who are supporting women in their initiative and gender equality. I am encouraging and imploring men to continue supporting women for those who are in this august House. We are under them and we also respect them. We are also advocating for equality in terms of opportunities. Yes, we understand that we are women, we are under them.
We also encourage the Government to make sure that we go deeper in uplifting the lives of the girl child and those who are living with different disabilities and make sure that their grievances which are being raised at the grassroots level are being cascaded up to this august House. May we educate women from their tender ages that opportunities must be equal among them? I am saying that I concur with the previous speakers in terms of uplifting women. I thank you.
^^HON. SEN. MOHADI: Thank you President of the Senate for awarding me this opportunity to add my voice to the motion brought about by Hon. Minister M. Mutsvangwa. Allow me to thank her for bringing this motion which is well-articulated. It speaks about the work done by the Gender Commission. She indicated that they have been to several places. Still on the Gender Commission as women, we have agreed that if we look back to the Beijing Declaration, it was agreed that by2030, we need to achieve 50:50 gender equality.
We have so far highlighted under the SDGs that we need to achieve 50:50 but up to now, we are not there yet. Why are we not there yet? This is where the challenge is, our plea to our leaders is that when appointing women leaders, we may need to ensure that, for example, if one is a Deputy Minister and not showing enough capacity, that person when demoted, should be replaced by another woman so that we maintain our levels in leadership positions as women.
If we look at 2014 and 2023 when we were going for elections, instead of having our numbers increasing, they were decreasing because of that. The other issue highlighted in this motion is with regards to GBV which is one of the topics that are being talked about now and then. Instead of having GBV reduced, it continues to escalate until when? The other issue is concerning child marriages. It was also highlighted by the Minister that child marriages continue to increase instead of dropping. Why are we always experiencing such challenges? Therefore, we need to sit down and look into solutions to have these challenges dealt with once and for all because it appears, we continue to plan without implementation, monitoring and evaluation. So, this is directionless. We have a mammoth task to deal with this issue. Still focusing on the same motion, there is an issue with regards to budget allocated to women’s issues. We are grateful to the Minister of Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion because right now, it is slightly high but it is still not enough and why is it not enough?
It is not enough because it is being increased a bit because there is not much of an increase. We realise that there is another Department of the Disabled which is another fraction of women. On the same issue, we have realised that this Gender Commission, if it were to be allowed that in each and every ministry, if possible there is need to have a gender desk because if we are looking at issues to do with agriculture, you realise that we have women who are engaged in farming. Their activities are not that successful because of the same challenges that are encountered by women.
Therefore, if reports are to be brought together to the minister, it will carry comprehensive information from the different ministries highlighting on what has been done from every ministry. If we do not operate like this, we will not succeed. What we like as women is that we need to progress.
In conclusion, I will say as women, let us unite, let us not focus on which political party one comes from or which church they come from, but we need to just look at the womanliness in us. We need to respect each other and support each other in everything that a woman does. I am not done yet, I was just taking a breather. Since you have indicated that I need to finish, I will say with these few words, I thank you and have a nice holiday.
HON. SEN. SIBANDA: On a point of order Mr. President. It will be difficult for us to debate because we do not have earphones. We do not want to do a repetition on what she has been talking about.
THE HON. DEPUTY PRESIDENT OF SENATE: Thank you, you have very valid points. Staff of Parliament, how many times do I have to remind you. Your point is valid Hon. Sen. Sibanda. I apologise on their behalf, it is a very unfortunate situation.
*HON. SEN. MUZODA: Thank you Mr. President for awarding me this opportunity to thank the Hon. Minister Senator Mutsvangwa for bringing in the reports from the Gender Commission which was long. She presented everything which happened throughout the programmes, throughout the country which happened in her ministry this year. As Hon. Members, we really appreciate that. I do not want to say more things but I rise to say Hon. Minister Mutsvangwa is one of the ministers who work hand in glove with the Senate Chamber.
Most of the time Minister Hon. Senator Mutsvangwa is always in the House. She is always present and she follows debate and she comes and provide answers. If there are motions which are directed to her, she comes and attend to the motions. We are pleading with you Mr. President that may all the other ministers emulate what Hon. Minister Mutsvangwa is doing because some of the ministers have not set their foot in this august House. We expect that when we come up with the debate which is focusing on a certain ministry, we expect the minister to come and respond to what the Hon. Members debate on it.
I want to thank Hon. Senator Mutsvangwa because she brought in the debate which opened our minds and our eyes that the women are very important in making sure that the future and the resources of the country are in good hands. It is true that the women, in the past, were looked down upon and they were not being regarded as people who can bring development in the country. Through the incisive decision of engaging and working together with Gender Commission, we see the light that we were wrong and that we can work together hand-in-hand as men and women. Sometimes a man can follow behind in terms of coming up with development.
Mr. President, I want to plead with the Minister of Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion that since we had already talked about the issue of budget up to the stage where we are today, may he increase the budget of the women so that we can see how best they can express themselves in terms of development. May the minister increase the budget for Gender Commission. We see that the Gender Commission is headed by a leader who is working together with people and bringing on development. She is also advocating for programmes which encourages development whilst she is also leading women.
Mr. President, the issue of gender must be looked into thoroughly because we have got many incentives which must be done by women. Some of them are able and they suit women properly. These initiates make sure that our country is moving forward and may the women be given the opportunity in these areas.
On the farming, we know that women are good farmers. Most men are in towns working for their families whilst women are in rural areas farming and producing food for their families. So, I see it fit that women must be given farms and given inputs and also get seeds, tractors and everything so that they can carry out their farming activities properly. Women really bring in development in the country.
I want also to look at the issue of mining. We know Mr. President that in our country, there are different types of minerals. It might be difficult for women to go and mine them.
THE HON. DEPUTY PRESIDENT OF SENATE: We are debating the Gender Commission Report, not the challenges that women face in society and in the economy.
*HON. SEN. MUZODA: Thank you Mr. President. I was about to conclude. The issues that I was trying to raise really affect women. The truth is that some of us who work together with women, really want to see women being upgraded from the issue of gender-based violence in their households and in our societies.
THE MINISTER OF TRANSPORT AND INFRASTRUCTURAL DEVELOPMENT (HON. MHONA): I move that the debate do now adjourn.
Motion put and agreed to.
Debate to resume: Tuesday, 11th February, 2025.
MOTION
BUSINESS OF THE HOUSE
THE MINISTER OF TRANSPORT AND INFRASTRUCTURAL DEVELOPMENT (HON. MHONA): I move that the Senate now reverts to Order of the Day Number 1 on today’s Order Paper.
Motion put and agreed to.
SECOND READING
CIVIL AVIATION AMENDMENT BILL [H.B.4, 2023]
First Order read: Second Reading: Civil Aviation Amendment Bill [H.B. 4, 2023].
THE MINISTER OF TRANSPORT AND INFRASTRUCTURAL DEVELOPMENT (HON. MHONA): Thank you, Mr. President. I wish to present the Second Reading Statement of the Civil Aviation Amendment Bill, [H.B. 4, 2023] after it was successfully passed by the National Assembly on the 18th of December 2024.
Further, no adverse report by the Parliamentary Legal Committee was issued with regard to the Bill. Mr. President, allow me from the outset to reaffirm the commitment of the Government towards the enduring fulfilment of its domestic and international obligations in compliance with the International Civil Aviation Organisation known as (ICAO), standards and recommended practices.
Compliance with standards and recommended practices is in line with the provisions of the Convention on International Civil Aviation, commonly referred to as the Chicago Convention of 1945. Mr. President, in line with ICAO recommendations, we successfully implemented a process to separate the Civil Aviation Regulatory function of the Civil Aviation Authority from that of the Airports Company of Zimbabwe, which is responsible for designing, developing and operating airports and aerodromes. We achieved the aforesaid through the promulgation of the Civil Aviation Amendment Act of 2018.
Under the same mechanism, an Air Accident Investigation Unit independent from the authority and the Airports Company of Zimbabwe was established under the Ministry of Transport in line with international-based practices and ICAO recommendations.
Mr. President, the short-to-medium-term implementation of the Civil Aviation Amendment Act of 2018 revealed gaps in the law. This coincided with two ICAO audits of 2019 and 2023, which recommended a further review of the Civil Aviation Act, [Chapter 13;16] with a view to ensure that our aviation legal regime is watertight to consolidate the gains so far achieved towards achieving aviation security and safety.
The recent positive developments in the form of the expansion and modernisation of the Robert Mugabe International Installation of Modern Airspace Management Systems in the form of the air traffic control, communication systems and secondary surveillance radar systems have strengthened our resolve to do more, including to propose further amendments to the Civil Aviation Act.
Mr. President, given the foregoing, the purpose of this Bill is to amend the Civil Aviation Act, [Chapter 13:16] to achieve the following principal objectives: To address gaps in the Act that were identified by the ICAO audit held in 2019, to align the Act to the Public Entities and Corporate Governance Act [Chapter 10:31] and to correct the sharing between the Civil Aviation Authority of Zimbabwe and the Air Force Command of Zimbabwe limited from 90% to 10% and from 67.5% to 32.5% ratio.
Mr. President, this brings me to the specific contents of the Bill before Honourable Senators. The Civil Aviation Amendment Bill contains 32 clauses. Clause No. 1 of the Bill sets out the short title.
Clause 2 amends certain definitions of words and phrases to be used in the principal Act in terms of Section 2 of the Act. Clause 3 specifies the duties of the Authority in Section 6 of the Act after its separation from the ACZ and the creation of Acts in the Investigation Unit in the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructural Development.
Clause 4 amends Section 10 of the Act to specify qualifications needed for board members of the Authority, including aviation law.
Clauses 5 and 6 align the Public Entities and Corporate Governance Act by amending Sections 12 and 18 on terms of office of board members which should exceed four years and that board meeting should be held at least once every quarter. My apologies, it must not exceed four years and that a board meeting should be held at least once every quarter respectively.
Clause 7 sets Section 24B which gives the Director-General additional powers to establish a system that will provide safety and security oversight for the implementation of the aviation safety and security policies and regulations in consultation with the Minister. Clause 8 sets Section 24 of the Act to provide the Director-General with powers to make urgent and temporal regulations that have the force of law to address threats to civil aviation in Zimbabwe.
Mr. President, Clause 9 amends Section 42 of the Act for the penalty levels of the Act to align with the new standard scale of fines for civil aviation penalties which was recommended by ICAO. Clause 10 amends Section 43 of the Act to provide for the legal basis for the Minister to make regulations for air navigation services.
Clause 11 amends Section 44 of the Act to provide for the clarification of the role of the Authority as the entity responsible for safety and security standards in civil aviation in Zimbabwe. Clause 12 sets a paragraph after 44A to provide for the clarification of the primary purpose of aviation security in civil aviation.
Mr. President, Clause 13 inserts a new section 44C to provide for the establishment and constitution of the National Air Transport Facilitation Committee with an overarching committee to advise the authority of matters relating to facilitation of civil air transport and recommend and review the effectiveness of facilitation measures and procedures.
Clause 4 amends Section 49 of the Act.
Clause 14 amends Section 49 of the Act on the penalty levels to align with the standard scale of fines for civil aviation penalties, which was recommended by ICAO.
Clause 15 inserts Section 57 (a), which provides for the protection and non-disclosure of information collected from cockpit recordings during investigations, provided that, in line with international standards, such information may only be disclosed for the purposes of civil aviation investigations being carried out, provided that the Chief Investigator shall publish a report on the investigations in such manner as he or she considers appropriate, including publishing the final report on all the relevant websites.
Clause 16 repeals Section 59 and substitutes it with a provision which amends the penalty levels to align with the new standard scale of fines for civil aviation penalties, which was recommended by ICAO with regard to obstruction of aircraft investigations and additionally empowers the authority to ease civil penalties enforcing the regulations.
Mr. President Sir, Clauses 17 to 23 amend Sections 63; 65; 67; 68; 69 (a); 74 and 75 to provide for various controls and to align the penalty levels with the new standard scale of fines for civil aviation penalties, which was recommended by ICAO.
Clause 24 inserts Section 78 (a) to introduce a new standard scale of fines and monetary penalties applicable to civil aviation which are higher than the scale of fines in the criminal court.
This came as an audit finding and recommendation by ICAO to have a higher and deterrent scale of fines for civil aviation in line with global trends.
Clause 5 inserts a new paragraph 79 (b) (b) to give effect to the Yamoussoukro Decision in the African Union Treaty signed on 14th November 1999, which established a framework for liberalisation of air and fair competition among air transport service among African countries.
Mr. President Sir, Clause 26 to amend Section 80 for the powers of the Minister to be extended to make regulations for air navigation services.
Clause 27 inserts a new part and inserts new Sections 80 (a) and 80 (g) to provide for the establishment of a Regulations Development Committee known as VETCOM, which previously was provided for in terms of the regulations.
Clause 28 inserts new Sections 80 (e) to 80 (f) to provide for the limitation of liability for the board members and employees, and agents of the authority for actions done in good faith in the performance of their duties. This clause also amends the Act to impose an obligation on Zimbabwean aircraft and foreign aircraft in Zimbabwe to comply with martialling and signals and intersection manoeuvres.
Mr. President Sir, Clause 29 repeals and substitutes Section 87 to amend the revenue sharing model between CAAZ and ACZ and from a ratio of 10% to 90% to 32.5% to 67.5% respectively. I will propose, Mr. President Sir, during the Committee Stage, since this is not reflected in the Bill before us and as it was gazetted by Parliament. This position was agreed on 31st October 2024 by all relevant stakeholders, including CAAZ and ACZ.
Section 87 is further amended by the deletion of subsection (ii), which vested the airport land lease in the CAAZ to replace the same with the need for the Minister in consultation with the Regulations Development Committee to fix by notice in a statutory instrument a regulatory fee levied at the rate to be prescribed in the Regulatory Fee Notice, payable to the Authority for Industry Regulatory Services rendered or anything else done by it under the Act.
Mr. President Sir, Clause 30, inserts the Second, Third and Fourth Schedules, including VETCOM and Civil Penalty Orders, respectively, to explain additions contained in the Bill.
Finally, Clauses 31 to 34, make consequential amendments of the Criminal Codification and Reform Act by extending the list of Acts that constitute the crime of damaging, destroying or prejudicing the self-operation of an aircraft and for the further protection of aviation safety and security, which introduce the crime of perpetrating an act of violence against aviation.
Mr. President Sir, I now commend the Civil Aviation Amendment Bill [H. B. 4, 2023] to the august House and move that the Bill be now read a second time. Thank you, Mr. President.
HON. SEN. MANYENGAVANA: Thank you, Mr. President, for allowing me to add my voice on the Civil Aviation Amendment Bill. Hon. Minister, through you Mr. President, the Civil Aviation Act was amended by regulations made by the Presidential Powers Act of 2023. The amendment lapsed after six months because they were never confirmed by an Act of Parliament. Lately, the Minister is now trying to incorporate some amendments into the Act.
Having allowed the Presidential Powers Amendment to lapse some two years ago. I am going to talk about the civil penalties. The civil penalties, as laid down in the Bill, are almost certainly unconstitutional for the foreign business. They can be imposed in addition to criminal penalties. The fact that a person has been subjected to the civil penalty does not prevent him from being prosecuted for a criminal offense and vice versa. The amount is to be doubled.
Civil penalties are not subject to confirmation by a court of law. So, the levying of the civil penalty amounts to an unlawful acquisition of property. If a penalty is imposed for an offence committed by a corporate body, all the directors and also the board will be deemed guilty of the offence. Even if they have not committed and you knew nothing about it, there is no proper appeal against a civil penalty. A court will be held to set a penalty aside and that is on procedure grounds only.
I am now going on the standard scale of fines Mr. President. Clause 24 of the Bill proposes the Minister of Transport and Infrastructural Development powers to prescribe the standard scale of crimes applicable to offences under the Civil Acquisition Act.
THE HON. DEPUTY PRESIDENT OF SENATE: Order, order! I am not very sure the Minister will deal with that. Is this not supposed to be in the Committee Stage? Anyway, you may proceed, the Minister will answer.
HON. SEN. MANYENGAVANA: That is what I am doing.
THE HON. DEPUTY PRESIDENT OF SENATE: We are not yet in the Committee.
HON. SEN. MANYENGAVANA: I know.
THE HON. DEPUTY PRESIDENT OF SENATE: I am saying what you are doing is what is supposed to be done in the Committee. You are saying I understand. Then I am telling you we are not yet in the Committee and you are saying you know again. Anyway, proceed.
HON. SEN. MANYENGAVANA: Thank you for allowing me to proceed. I will proceed. The Hon. Minister will take comments. This will override the current standard scale of fines prescribed under the criminal law code, which applies to all offences throughout the statute of law.
Under the code of the Minister of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs has power to adjust the levels of fines on the standard scale up or down to take account of inflation and other changing circumstances. Our courts have become well used to fixing fines using the current standard scale.
It is almost understandable, in fact, to allow individual ministers to prescribe their own standard scale of fines which will apply to offences under specific statutes. It will fragment our statute law and would even make it more complex than it already is. Courts will find it difficult to ascertain and some fines should be imposed in the particular cases if we keep this standard scale of work. If the Minister of Transport considers that the fines subscribing to the Civil Aviation Act are too low, then he should either ask the Minister of Justice to increase the monetary amount of the criminal law in the standard scale or else ask Parliament to adjust the level subscribed in the Civil Aviation Act; for example amending level 5 to level 10.
On Clause 2 of the Bill, I propose to do away with the entire Clause in the 3rd schedule, which deals with the imposition of civil penalties. If that is done, definitely the civil penalty will become unnecessary. On Clause 5 from the amendment, this clause needs corrections because it proposes to replace sections 12(2) of the Act. In fact, it should replace section 12 (1). Then on Clause 8…
THE HON. DEPUTY PRESIDENT OF SENATE: Order, order! Clearly you are now doing clauses. You are not making comments on the substance or the general import of the Bill. So, I will rule you out of order and the Minister may comment.
HON. SEN. CHIEF MATHUPULA: Thank you Hon. President for affording me the opportunity to speak on the Bill before us. I also want to thank the Minister for bringing the Bill here today. I wanted to first thank the Civil Aviation Authority in charge of Civil Aviation in Zimbabwe for a good track record when it comes to safety. Generally, Zimbabwe has had a good track record when looking at civil aviation over the years. That is very good and I thank the Minister as well. When I look at the Act, it seeks to strengthen the safety issues with regards to civil aviation in this country. I saw that a committee is going to be set up which will be in charge of safety and security standards. It will do investigations whenever there are accidents or look at best practices and safety standards which are regional and international. This is very important. I have watched some international documentaries and if there is an accident, there is always an authority which comes on the ground to do a thorough investigation on what would have happened and what caused it. It is also good to have such an authority within civil aviation which looks even at accidents and other near accidents which happen world-over and we learn from that as a country. You do not learn from your own experience but from the experience of others after something happens so that we can improve codes and standards in our country.
We would also like to thank the Civil Aviation Authority and the Minister in particular, for taking note of issues that would have been raised by other investigations which are done and given to the Minister. I would like to note that there was the international civil aviation audit held in 2019, which was given to the Minister and to the country at large. We thank them for abiding by that audit and seeking to make the authority be in line with that. We have also aligned the Act to the Public Entities and Corporate Governance Act [Chapter 10:31]. All these alignments seek to make our Civil Aviation function at its best. So, we thank the Minister for this Bill which seeks to do that. Looking at most of the other things, it seems a great improvement in safety and also in investigating that the Act seeks to do. I thank you.
*HON. SEN. CHIEF CHARUMBIRA: Thank you Mr. President Sir. I stood up to thank the Hon. Minister for bringing this Bill to Parliament. Firstly, this is the Minister of Transport who is responsible for different modes of transport, be it road, air or sea transport. Today, the Hon. Minister is here to discuss air transport. We want to commend our international airport, Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport and the Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo Airport in Bulawayo. We want to urge the Ministry to continue in the same trajectory. The issue of the Civil Aviation of Zimbabwe is huge because it is beyond the magnitudes that we might perceive. It is not about Zimbabwe only but all the airlines which come via our international airport. The world has confidence in our ability as a nation. Different airlines must be confident that when they bring their airplanes, they are ensured of safety. So, this gives us big business indeed when other countries and other players in the aviation industry see that we are doing a good job. There are some who would say we cannot land at such and such airport but our airport standards are very good and a lot of airlines take off and land safely.
We have had Bills coming to this august House which we have had to study and understand but as for this Bill, it is straight forward and very clear. We are proud as a nation that we are orderly and those who want to come to Zimbabwe should feel free. This is a law which we want to archive but it is a law which, after passing, will be shared globally with other players in the aviation industry. There are some laws which when passed, I take to my chieftainship homestead and I will just keep it at home but this one is a very good law which should be broadcast even beyond our borders. As we prepare for Christmas and New Year and as I stand here, you will begin to see people debating and some might be saying that we need to complete the process and leave. This is why we are here. We are seated but we cannot leave before completing the process although we would want to go. We do not want to remain here in Harare even on Friday. We are not removing anything from the Bill because it is quite straight forward. The engineers and everything else are in place. I have stood up to support this law and that it should pass so that we would be dismissed. Even when we go to the Committee Stage, I believe there will be a lot of progress. Thank you.
THE MINISTER OF TRANSPORT AND INFRASTRUCTURAL DEVELOPMENT (HON. MHONA): Thank you Mr. President. Let me thank the Hon. Senators for their invaluable contributions. I will start from where Hon. Senator Manyengavana. I will address some of the concerns that he raised during the Committee stage as you have guided Mr. President. Just to allay his fears, when we are talking of aviation industry, we are not looking at just an ordinary industry, like if you are involved in an accident, just driving your car, unlike an aeroplane, the disaster thereafter cannot be imagined if you are talking of an aviation, where the fatality rate can be 100% in most cases.
We must take cognisance of the fact that as much as we want to promulgate legislation, we must bear in mind the security concerns. Just to buttress what our revered Chief has said in terms of the essence of us relating well with other countries when it comes to aviation sector; as you know, we must be proud as a nation again that we are a member of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) Committee, which is an executive committee of 36 members where we superintend together with other nations in terms of coming up with legislation relating to the aviation sector. So, we are a member.
Also, when we are dealing with international law, it is not something that we take for granted. It is peremptory, where it is a must that we must abide by the dictates of the international laws. As a member of the ICAO, we must also make sure that we are in tandem. Yes, we might decide to have our own laws but we do not exist in a vacuum. We also need to relate well with other countries.
*You have heard the chief speaking in his mother tongue saying that we need to address these issues. I want to address the issues raised by the Chief…
THE HON. DEPUTY PRESIDENT OF SENATE: Please stick to one language Hon. Minister.
HON. MHONA: Thank you Mr. President. I will stand guided. In terms of what Chief Charumbira was saying, relating to us also having other countries flying into our air space and coming particularly to our country, the essence of safety is of paramount importance. You see that we now have an efficient airport, the Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport, where also we are advocating for a number of airlines to fly into Zimbabwe. They consider such issues. The moment you are audited by ICAO, they will raise safety concerns and there is no airline that would want to ply into your country. Therefore, it is of paramount importance that we must speak to the dictates as guided by ICAO.
I would also want to thank Hon. Senator Chief Mathupula for raising important issues to align ourselves and with closing the gaps as highlighted by the audit and for your appreciation of the Committee that will superintend over the affairs of the aviation sector in our country. I would like to thank the Hon. Senators for their contributions. Indeed, this is a piece of legislation that was long awaited, which will also make us as a nation to comply with what is being spearheaded by ICAO. I am happy that beginning of the coming year, ICAO was supposed to schedule us but when we embarked on this journey, they started appreciating us Zimbabwe as an important country in terms of trying to put the necessary pieces of legislation in place. They have now focused to also consider other countries that they think are at risk and they are happy with the development.
I want to thank Hon. Senators and also the National Assembly for assisting us and also giving us the leeway to come up with this Bill before this esteemed august House. Thank you Mr. President Sir.
Motion put and agreed to.
Bill read a second time.
Committee Stage: With leave, forthwith.
COMMITTEE STAGE
CIVIL AVIATION AMENDMENT BILL [H. B. 4, 2023]
House in Committee.
Clauses 1 to 4 put and agreed to.
On Clause 5:
THE MINISTER OF TRANSPORT AND INFRASTRUCTURAL DEVELOPMENT (HON. MHONA): Hon. Chair, there is just a typo error on the first line where it says, ‘is amended by the repeal of subsection (1)’, there it is written (2). We just need to amend by putting 1 instead of 2. Thank you.
Amendment to Clause 5 put and agreed to.
Clause 5, as amended, put and agreed to.
Clauses 6 and 7 put and agreed to.
On Clause 8:
HON. SEN. MANYENGAVANA: Thank you. I propose the clause needs to be deleted completely because it gives too much powers to the Director General for law making which is against our Constitution. So, I propose that we do away with Clause 8 as Minister, Executive, Parliament or Courts is allowed to. Thank you.
THE MINISTER OF TRANSPORT AND INFRASATRUCTURAL DEVELOPMENT (HON. MHONA): Thank you Mr. Chair. I want to thank Hon. Senator Manyengavana for that but, I want to say that Parliament is a sovereign body and it cannot bestow law making power on any authority that it deems fit. Here we are talking of temporary measures which are outlined by chaos and has made it very clear as a finding that such steady level legislation is required for the smooth administration of affairs of civil aviation. Thank you.
HON. MANYENGAVANA: I ask for guidance Hon. Minister. Yes, I agree it will be temporary measures, why not just give the powers of authority to the Minister not to the Attorney General because we are making the laws for the future generation. I think what is proper is written in our Constitution. I still stand that we need to give the powers to right laws – to Parliament, the Courts and the Executive. Why giving the powers to the Attorney General?
HON. MHONA: Mr. Chair let me also guide my Hon. Senator accordingly. We are not talking of the AG, we are talking of the Director General. It has to be very clear that he must take note that it is the Director General who runs the affairs. Thank you
HON. SEN. MANYENGAVANA: Sorry for the interjection, I think I understand.
HON. SEN. KUNAKA: Thank you Chair. I also feel that the Director General has been given too much powers. These orders and directives will be laws and more specifically statutory instruments as defined in Section 332 of the Constitution. As such, they must be published in the Gazette in terms of Section 134 of the Constitution since the Bill does not require them to be published in the gazette like regulations; they will be very unconstitutional.
HON. MHONA: Mr. Chair, I think Hon. Senators are taking it too far, here we are talking of operations on the ground. We have urgent matters relating to Civil Aviation and we are giving the man or the lady who is operating – who is running the show to make immediate decisions. If there is a fire break in this House, they are standard procedures that the presiding officers march first but everyone will be running. This is temporary, it is not the order of the day. We are saying these are just temporary measures as outlined by chaos and I am sure it must not burden the Hon. Senators in this august House. Thank you.
Clause 8 put and agreed to.
Clauses 9 to 18 put and agreed to
On Clause 19:
HON. SEN. KUNAKA: On Clause 19 - effects of a new subsection 5 which the clause will insert in Section 67 of the Act is to make aerodrome authorities who fail to comply with the section liable to a civil penalty. The Minister and the Civil Authority are both aerodrome authorities as defined in section 6 of the Act. Are they going to have civil penalties imposed on them?
THE MINISTER OF TRANSPORT AND INFRASTRUCTURAL DEVELOPMENT (HON. MHONA): I thank you Hon. Chair, I want to thank the Hon. Senator. Indeed, that was the essence of us separating CAAZ and the Airports Company of Zimbabwe, of which therefore Airports Company of Zimbabwe is the aerodrome operator. Like what the Hon. Member has said, it will now put that separation and they are amenable to such penalties.
Clause 19 put and agreed to.
On Clause 20:
HON. SEN. MAVENYENGWA: I propose we delete ‘to’ in section 68. Section 68 of the Act contains the word ‘to’ which makes no sense and should be deleted.
THE MINISTER OF TRANSPORT AND INFRASTRUCTURAL DEVELOPMENT (HON. MHONA): Thank you Hon. Chair, I think those are semantics and I will not take it, with the indulgence of the Senate.
Clause 20 put and agreed to.
On Clause 21:
HON. SEN. MAVENYENGWA: Section 68 (a), the clause gives Inspectors unlimited powers of search entry and seizure which goes far beyond very excessive powers given to police officers by the Criminal Procedure and Evidence Act. The power set out in the new section violates the rights of privacy and protection of property gained; granted by Sections 57 and 71 of the Constitution. The clause needs to be amended to give Inspectors less powers.
THE MINISTER OF TRANSPORT AND INFRASTRUCTURAL DEVELOPMENT (HON. MHONA): Thank you; and like I alluded to you earlier, this is not ordinary course of business Mr. Chairman. We are talking of Civil Aviation matters and we cannot take to chance when it comes to safety for the generality and also security matters. I think it would then relate to just ordinary course of business. We actually make and expose other nations and also other airlines and everyone who is using the airspace to be at risk.
Clause 21 put and agreed to.
Clauses 22 to 24 put and agreed to.
On Clause 25:
HON. SEN. KUNAKA: This clause which will amend Section 79 of the Act, is the clause giving power to the Hon. Minister to make regulations. The clause in the Bill is inadequate, it makes no mention of the Regulations Development Committee which will be established by Clause 26 of the Bill. It needs to be expanded to allow regulations to be made in order to give effect to decisions and communication as mentioned in Clause 8.
THE MINISTER OF TRANSPORT AND INFRASTRUCTURAL DEVELOPMENT (HON. MHONA): Thank you Hon. Chair, I do not see the relevance. We are talking about the Yamoussoukro declaration, unless we are talking of a different clause which is a Decision African Union Treaty signed on the 14th November, 1999. Is that the same Hon. Senator?
HON. SEN. KUNAKA: Yes.
HON. MHONA: So, where is the problem because the Yamoussoukro decision is trying to open our airspace so that there are no bottlenecks when it comes to plying into one another’s space and that is the essence of the Yamoussoukro decision that was signed?
HON. SEN. KUNAKA: The expansion.
Clause 25 put and agreed to.
Clauses 26 to 34 put and agreed to.
Schedule put and agreed to.
House resumed.
Bill reported without amendments.
Third Reading: With leave, forthwith.
THIRD READING
CIVIL AVIATION AMENDMENT BILL [H. B 4A, 2023]
THE MINISTER OF TRANSPORT AND INFRASTRUCTURAL DEVELOPMENT (HON. MHONA): I move that the Bill be read the third time.
Motion put and agreed to.
Bill read the third time.
On the motion of THE MINISTER OF TRANSPORT AND INFRASTRUCTURAL DEVELOPMENT (HON. MHONA), the Senate adjourned at Seven Minutes past Four o’clock p.m. until Tuesday, 11th February, 2025.