Bill Watch 20/2015Parliament to Resumeon 9th June9 June 2015

BILL WATCH 20/2015

[9th June 2015]

Both Houses of Parliament Resume Today, Tuesday 9th June

When the two Houses of Parliament resume today, they are scheduled, according to the 2015 Sitting Calendar, to sit for eight consecutive weeks until 30th July. There are normally three sittings a week.

Appointment of Clerk of Parliament

Mr Kennedy Chokuda has been appointed Clerk of Parliament with effect from 20th May. Before it adjourned last month the National Assembly approved a report from the Committee on Standing Rules and Orders, presented by Vice-President Mnangagwa, recommending that Mr Chokuda be appointed Clerk with immediate effect. In terms of section 154 of the Constitution, his term of office is six years, which may be renewed for one further six-year term.

Mr Chokuda, a Deputy Clerk of Parliament since January 2007, has been acting as Clerk since the retirement of the long-serving previous Clerk, Mr Austin Zvoma, in November 2014. His appointment has met with general approval. Congratulations.

Parliamentary Numbers Reduced

The opposition benches in the National Assembly will be less crowded than they have been. Their seats are down from 70 to 53 as a result of the recent expulsions of 17 MDC Renewal MPs. 14 of the vacancies will be filled when the results of the 10th June by-elections are known. The other 3 vacancies are from among the 60 extra seats for women Parliamentarians provided for by the Constitution selected by a party list/proportional representation system, and they will be filled by new MDC-T nominees on completion of the statutory process for filling vacant party list seats.

ZANU-PF vacancies in the National Assembly currently stand at 4, two of which are to be filled in the 10th June by-elections, one at a later by-election, and the fourth, a women’s party list seat, by a ZANU-PF nominee.]

In the Senate, MDC-T numbers are presently 17, down from the original 21. Senators are voted in on proportional representation so they will be filled by MDC-T nominees after due process. There have been no expulsions so far among ZANU-PF Senators [see below].

Will Latest Expulsions from ZANU-PF Affect Parliamentary Seats?

ZANU-PF’s spokesperson announced on Friday 22nd May that at its meeting the previous day the party’s Politburo had expelled the following five members of Parliament from the party:

Olivia Muchena [a proportional representation/party list Senator for Mashonaland East Province]

Dzikamai Mavhaire [a proportional representation/party list Senator for Masvingo Province]

Kudakwashe Bhasikiti [National Assembly member for Mwenezi East constituency, Masvingo Province]

David Butau [National Assembly member for Mbire constituency, Mashonaland Central Province]

Ray Kaukonde [National Assembly member for Marondera Central constituency, Mashonaland East Province]

In terms of section 129(1)(k) of the Constitution, they will lose their seats if/when ZANU-PF’s officially notifies the President of the Senate and the Speaker that they are no longer party members. This would result in another three by-elections for the constituency seats, and ZANU-PF being able to fill the two proportional representation/party list seats with new party nominees.

Three have already lost the Government and party positions they held previously. In December 2014, after the ZANU-PF Congress, President Mugabe dismissed Mrs Muchena as Minister of Women’s Affairs, Gender and Community Development [she has not yet been replaced] and Mr Mavhaire as Minister of Energy and Power Development [replaced by Mr Samuel Undenge]. In February this year he dismissed Mr Bhasikiti as Minister of State for Provincial Affairs, Masviingo [replace by Mrs Shuvai Mahofa]. Mr Kaukonde, long-time party provincial chairperson in Mashonaland East, lost that position in November 2014 in the run-up to the December party Congress.

Reminder: Section 129(1)(k) has already been invoked in 23 cases since the beginning of the year [by ZANU-PF in 2 cases, by MDC-T in the other 21 cases – see Bill Watch 12/2015 of 20th April, and Bill Watch 10/2015 of 19th March for details]. By-elections to fill the 16 vacant constituency seats are due this Wednesday, 10th June. The other 7 vacancies, 3 in the Senate and 4 in the National Assembly, are for proportional representation seats and will be filled by nominees of MDC-T, as the party previously holding the seats.

MPs Suspended from ZANU-PF are Still MPs

ZANU-PF has also “suspended” a number of MPs from the party. Party spokesperson Simon Khaya Moyo has explained that “suspension does not mean that you are expelled from the party…you remain a member of the party but hold no leadership position for the period given”.The suspended individuals, therefore, remain MPs because there is nothing in section 129 or elsewhere in the Constitution which would unseat an MP who has been suspended from his or her party but remains a party member. [Section 129(1)(k) only provides for a Parliamentary seat to be vacated where the incumbent MP “has ceased to belong to the political party of which he or she was a member” when elected to Parliament.]

Whether these MPs will remain in positions of responsibility in Parliament such as chairing Parliamentary Committees, and whether they will join in Parliamentary party caucus meetings, are questions that their party must decide. [Chairpersons of committees are appointed by the Committee on Standing Rules and Orders, but in reality it is the party and its Chief Whip that decide who they want.]

In the case of Hon Andrew Langa who is Minister of Sport, Arts and Culture, whether or not he will stay in this post or be replaced is up to the President, who has the prerogative of appointing Ministers, to decide.

Coming up in Parliament This Week

National Assembly

Bills

Gender Commission BillIf the report on the Bill by the Portfolio Committee on Women’s Affairs, Gender and Community Developmenthas been completed, this week may see the presentation of the report to the National Assembly and the continuation of the Second Reading debate.

Criminal Procedure and Evidence Amendment Bill, Public Debt Management Bill and Marondera University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology Billare all listed as still under consideration by the Parliamentary Legal Committee [PLC].In addition, public hearings are yet to be held.The Bills are therefore unlikely to come up for Second Reading stage this week.

General Laws Amendment Bill and Joint Ventures Bill.These two Bills have been gazetted and await presentation and First Reading before being referred to the PLC for the necessary reports on constitutional compliance.

MotionsNew motions await presentation by their movers:

  • a motion calling on the Government to amend the Water Act; to give commercial farmers on resettlement land a fresh start by writing off outstanding water and electricity bills [said to be outrageously high]; and to formulate a “more people-oriented water policy” for farmers
  • a motion to take note of the Public Accounts Committee’s report on the National Railways of Zimbabwe accounts for the 2011 financial year
  • a motion to take note of the report of Parliament’s delegation to an Inter-Parliamentary Union in Hanoi, Viet Nam at the end of March.

Uncompleted debates on over 20 motions await further contributions, Ministerial responses and winding-up.

Question Time [Wednesday]54 questions with notice face Ministers, carried over from three weeks ago.More could be added before Wednesday.

Senate

BillsNo Bills are lined up for attention by the Senate.Senators will have to wait for Bills to be transmitted from the National Assembly in due course.

Motions One new motion is listed – for the Senate to take note of a report on a delegation’s attendance at the 6th Retreat of the Association of Senates, Shoora and Equivalent councils in Africa and the Arab World held in Amman, Jordan, in September 2014.Apart from that motion, continuing debates are scheduled on 16 other motions, carried over from earlier sittings.

Question Time [Thursday]7 questions are listed already, carried over from 21st May.More could be added before Thursday.

Statutory Instruments 8th May to 5th June

Prisons and Correctional Service pensions:SI 62/2015 of 15th May sets out regulations made by the Minister of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs, in terms of section 130 of the Prisons Act.The regulations amend the Prisons (Staff) (Appointment and Discharge) Regulations in two respects:

  • by providing for the President to allow members of the Prisons and Correctional Service who are war veterans to continue serving until the age of 65 if they are medically fit and if the President considers this is ”desirable in the public interest”.
  • by providing that for pension purposes only, a member of the Service of the rank of Superintendent and above who retires on full pension must be promoted to the next higher rank on reaching retirement age and leaving the Service, “provided that the memberexhibited undoubted loyalty and exceptional commitment to his or her duty”.

These regulations are actually invalid and void, having been made by the wrong authority.Under section 231 of the Constitution it is now the Prisons and Correctional Service Commission, not the Minister, who must make regulations for the conditions of service of members of the Prisons and Correctional Service – no matter that section 130 of the Prisons Act still gives the Minister a regulation-making power [because it has not yet been amended to align it with the Constitution].

[Note: the Constitution allows the Minister a role in regulating conditions of service, as the Commission requires his approval before gazetting regulations. In addition, if regulations have financial implications, the Commission also needs the approval of the President, given on the recommendation of the Minister responsible for finance and after consultation with the Minister responsible for the Prisons and Correctional Service; section 231(2) and (3).]

To provide validly for these new benefits for members of the Service, therefore, SI 62/2015 needs to be re-gazetted in proper form, clearly stating that it was made by the Prisons and Correctional Service Commission, with the approval of both the Minister and the President, in terms of section 231 of the Constitution.

Collective bargaining agreements:Collective bargaining agreements have been published for the following industries: lumber milling and timber processing industry [SI 60/2015]; Air Transport Industry [SI 61/2015]; cigarette and tobacco industry [SI 64/2015]; detergents, edible oils and fats industry [SI 68/2015].

Local authority by-laws:

Kariba – Cemeteries Amendment By-laws setting new fees for burials[SI 65/2015]

Kariba – by-laws setting rents and charges for “incorporated areas”/high density townships [SI 66/2015].

Customs rebates for NRZSI 69/2014 repeals and replaces section 144 of the Customs and Excise (General) Regulations.The new section grants the NRZ a rebate of duty on a long list of engine spares, equipment and components for the whole of 2015 as long as the spares, etc. are itemised in a list approved by the Minister of Finance and Economic Development.

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