Bill Watch 21/2014 Parliament to Sit Again Today 13th May: Update on Bills & Acts13 May

BILL WATCH 21/2014

[13th May 2014]

Both Houses Will Resume Sitting Today Tuesday 13th May

Public Hearings on Bills

Electoral Amendment Bill The Portfolio Committee on Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs held public hearings on this Bill from 2nd to 7th May, visiting Rushinga, Gweru, Inyathi [Bubi district], Plumtree, Bulawayo, Masvingo, Nyika and Mutasa, and Harare. Attendance in the rural districts was generally poor, and participants complained about inadequate advance publicity and failure by Parliament and their MPs to make copies or summaries of the Bill available to them. The Inyathi hearing was completely disrupted by objections to the way the hearing was organised. This could be interpreted as contempt of Parliament. The Harare meeting venue was changed at the last moment to one that was too small to accommodate all would-be participants, and it also came to a premature end, as departures by Committee members meant there was no longer a quorum. The Committee now has to table its report in the National Assembly.

Trafficking in Persons Bill The Portfolio Committee on Defence, Home Affairs and Security Services plans to hold a series of public hearings on this Bill around the country, dates and venues to be announced in due course. Before these hearings take place the Committee has asked the Minister of Home Affairs and his officials to explain the Bill at its next meeting on Monday 19th May.

Speaker’s Statement on Internal Differences in MDC-T

On 8th May the Speaker, Hon Jacob Mudenda, issued a statement that he has no authority or role to play in internal disputes within political parties; such matters, he said, “may be appropriately dealt with by a competent court”. [The full text of the Speaker’s statement is available from the addresses given at the end of this bulletin.] This followed his receipt of two letters from officials of the strife-torn MDC-T:

  • Hon Tendai Biti’s letter informed the Speaker that only he, Biti, as MDC-T Secretary-General, had authority to communicate with the Speaker on party matters, particularly the use of section 129(1)(k) of the Constitution to recall party MPs.
  • Hon Thokozani Khupe’s letter informed the Speaker that only she, as MDC-T Deputy President and therefore Leader of the Opposition in Parliament, had authority to communicate with the Speaker on party issues, including invoking section 129(1)(k).

The Speaker said that neither of these letters called for a ruling from him under section 129(1)(k) of the Constitution. [Note: This provision allows a political party to terminate an MP’s membership of Parliament, if that MP was a party member when elected to Parliament but has since ceased to belong to the party; the formal procedure required is for the political party to give written notice to the Speaker declaring that the MP has ceased to belong to it.]

Bills Partly Considered by Parliament before the Easter Recess

The Senate and the National Assembly left proceedings on four Bills unfinished when they began their five-week Easter break on 10th April[all the Bills are available from the addresses given at the end of this bulletin]:

Electoral Amendment Bill

Senate This important Bill was introduced in the Senate. Surprisingly, given widespread criticism of the Bill’s constitutional inadequacies [for example, in Bill Watch 12/2014 of 4th March]’,the Parliamentary Legal Committee [PLC] gave it a non-adverse report. On 25th March the Deputy Minister of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairsdelivered a short Second Reading speech explaining the Bill to Senators, who requested a week in which to study it before embarking on further debate. When debate resumed on 1st April, MDC-T Senators Makore and Marava protested about the deficiencies in the Bill, but the Deputy Minister brushed their objections, saying they raised mere operational issues that could be dealt with by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission. The Second Reading was approved, and the Bill was immediately taken through the Committee Stage unchanged [MDC-T Senators did not table amendments]. On 2nd April it was given its Third Reading and transmitted to the National Assembly.

Comment: MDC-T Senators were possibly taken by surprise by the Government’s decision to take the Bill through the Senate, when it was well known that the Portfolio Committee on Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs was not yet in a position to report on the Bill – because efforts to organize public hearings were still underway, amid funding problems. Such hearings are obviously essential for Parliament to fulfill its constitutional duty to consult the public on such an important Bill. Some MDC-T Senators walked out of the Senate in protest at the cursory manner in which the Bill was dealt with.

National Assembly

On 10th April the Minister of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs himself delivered his Second Reading speech in the National Assembly and stressed the Bill’s “great urgency”, citing:

  • the lapsing last December of the temporary amendments of the Electoral Act made under the Presidential Powers (Temporary Measures) Act for the purposes of the 31st July harmonised election, and
  • the need to fill existing party-list vacancies in the Senate, which cannot be done until the Electoral Act has been appropriately amended.

He acknowledged that the Bill does not cover all the amendments needed to the Electoral Act, but asked MPs to pass it as a preliminary Bill, to be followed by a second Bill, consultations for which would be completed before the end of the year. He indicated he was prepared to introduce Committee Stage amendments to replace all references to the Registrar-General in voter registration with references to the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission. MDC-T’s Mr Chimanikire then urged that the portfolio committee be allowed time to complete public consultations on the Bill, and the Minister agreed to the debate being adjourned for this purpose – but did not relax his stance that the Bill should be passed as a preliminary to a later, comprehensive Bill.

National Prosecuting Authority Bill This Bill went quickly through itsSecond Reading, Committee and Third Reading stages on 10th April, and was transmitted to the Senate. MDC-T’s Hon Cross complimented the Minister, saying the Bill was both well drafted and historic, as the first major piece of legislation brought before the House for implementation of the new Constitution.

Sovereign Wealth Fund Bill Although the National Assembly gave this Bill its Second Reading in March, the Committee Stage had not started by the 10th April. The Minister of Finance and Economic Planninghas tabled amendments he wants the National Assembly to approve [see below].

Financial Adjustments Bill This Bill is to condone expenditure in excess of budget allocations during 2013. On 3rd April it was passed unopposed by the National Assembly, with amendments put forward by the Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, and transmitted to the Senate. Hon Cross told the House that the Finance Portfolio Committee accepted that the expenditure had been essential and should be condoned.

Bills Coming up in the National Assembly

The following Bills [all available from the addresses given at the end of this bulletin] are listed on the Order Paper for 13th May[this does not actually mean they will be dealt with that day]:

Electoral Amendment Bill Continuation of debate is awaited, following the Minister’s Second Reading speech a month ago. Debate is expected to be postponed until the Portfolio Committee on Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs is ready to present its report on the Bill, as was agreed by the Minister on 10th April [see above].

Sovereign Wealth Fund Bill The Committee Stage of this Bill is item 2 on the Order Paper. This is the stage during which the Bill will be considered clause by clause and amendments can be made. The Minister of Finance and Economic Development, who introduced the Bill,has given notice that he will proposeamendments [text of amendments available from the addresses given at the end of this bulletin].

Trafficking in Persons Bill This important Bill, designed to enable Zimbabwe to give effect to its international legal obligations under the Palermo Protocol, is still under consideration by the PLC. The Second Reading Stage will not proceed until the PLC has reported on its constitutionality and hopefully public hearings have taken place.

Income Tax Bill This massive Bill is item 29 on the Order Paper. There has been no indication of when the Minister of Finance and Economic Planningwill be ready for the National Assembly to start reconsideration of the Bill in the light of the reservations the President expressed when returning it to the National Assembly in December after refusing his assent. The Bill was hastily passed by the last Parliament in June 2013, just before it came to the end of its five-year term.

Bills Coming up in the Senate

Only two Bills are listed for consideration by the Senate, both of which were passed without demur by the National Assembly [see above][both are available from the addresses given at the end of this bulletin]:

  • Financial Adjustments Bill
  • National Prosecuting Authority Bill.

Other Bills in the Pipeline

[not available from Veritas]

One Government Bill, gazetted on 3rd January, is still awaiting introduction by the Minister of Defence:

  • Biological and Toxin Weapons Control Bill.

Parliament has also sent two other Government Bills for printing prior to gazetting and subsequent presentation in Parliament:

  • Public Accountants and Auditors Amendment Bill
  • Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (Assumption of Debt) Bill.

Note: The latter Bill has nothing to do with amendments to the Banking Act to tighten governance in financial institutions, a subject discussed recently by the Minister of Finance and Economic Planning with financial sector stakeholders. Any Bill to enact such amendments is still some way off, because the Minister still has to secure Cabinet approval before requesting the drafters in the Attorney-General’s Office to begin drafting.

Acts of 2014 Already Gazetted

The first two, and so far the only, Acts of 2014 were gazetted and came into force on 4th April, over two months after the relevant Bills were passed by Parliament:

  • Finance Act [Act 1/2014]
  • Appropriation Act [Act 2/2014].

Veritas makes every effort to ensure reliable information, but cannot take legal responsibility for information supplied

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