[Bill-Watch] Bill Watch 2/2015 of 25th January 2015 [Parliament to Resume Sitting Tuesday 27th January]

[Veritas Bill Watch]

BILL WATCH 2/2015

[25th January 2015]

Both Houses of Parliament Will Resume on Tuesday 27th January

The National Assembly and the Senate will return from their Christmas and
New Year recess on Tuesday 27th January.  The National Assembly sat last on
18th December, the Senate on 19th December, when they approved the 2015
Budget and passed the Finance (No. 3) Bill and Appropriation (2015) Bill. 

Coming up in the National Assembly This Week

Bills 

The Order Paper for 27th January is headed by the three Bills listed below,
all of which were introduced during the First Session and, as announced by
the Speaker on 25th November 2014, have received non-adverse reports from
the Parliamentary Legal Committee [PLC].  The National Assembly has also
passed resolutions to restore all three Bills to the Order Paper for the
current session.  

The next step for each Bill is for the responsible Minister to begin the
Second Reading stage by explaining its principles and content to the House.
The merits of the Bill will then be debated by MPs, and this will include a
contribution presenting a report on the Bill by the appropriate portfolio
committee.  Matters of detail and wording can be raised during the next
stage, the Committee Stage, during which the Bill will be considered clause
by clause, and amendments can be proposed by the responsible Minister and by
backbenchers.  

.        Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (Debt Assumption) Bill [H.B. 7, 2014]
[Minister of Finance and Economic Development]

This Bill was restored to the Order Paper on 18th December  

.        Public Accountants and Auditors Amendment Bill [H.B. 6, 2014]
[Minister of Finance and Economic Development]

This Bill was restored to the Order Paper on 18th December 

.        Zimbabwe Gender Commission Bill [H.B. 8, 2014] [Minister of Women
Affairs, Gender and Community Development]

This Bill was restored to the Order Paper on 27th November.  As the PLC
report was conditional on certain changes being made to the Bill, the
Minister is expected to confirm that she will be moving appropriate
amendments during the Committee Stage.  [The Bill was critically discussed
in Constitution Watch 8/2014 of 26th August 2014.]

[The Bills are all available from the addresses given at the end of this
bulletin.]

Private Members' Motions  

The Order Paper lists three motions:

Special economic zones  Hon Nduna, seconded by Hon Cross, will move a
comprehensive motion urging the Executive as a matter of urgency to develop
special economic zones and introduce a Bill to enable the implementation of
ZIMASSET through the establishment of such zones.

Climate change  Hon Anastancia Ndhlovu, seconded by Hon S. Mpofu, will
propose that Parliament form a Zimbabwe chapter of GLOBE International and
also urge the Executive to urgently formulate and implement a National
Climate Change Policy and a comprehensive Disaster Risk Management Strategy.

Child marriages in Zimbabwe  Hon Maondera, seconded by Hon Majome, will
bring up a motion urging Government to urgently review existing legislation
to see if it adequately deals with the scourge of child marriage, introduce
necessary new legislation, roll out programmes to assist victims, come up
with programmes to educate all communities on the ills of child marriages
and commission research to determine the magnitude of this scourge in
Zimbabwe.  [Note: The constitutionality of child marriage and existing
legislation was raised in the Constitutional Court in a case argued on 14th
January; see Constitution Watch 1/2015 of 8th January for details of the
case.]

Question Time [Wednesday 28th January]

The first hour of the afternoon sitting is for Questions without Notice, the
next for written Questions with Notice.  There are fifteen such Questions
with Notice on the Order Paper, including one on steps taken to reduce fuel
prices in line with the decline in global crude oil prices.  

Coming up in the Senate

Bills

There are no Bills listed for consideration by the Senate.  

Motions

The latest Order Paper available lists no Private Members' Motions apart
from the customary motion on the President's speech opening the current
session of Parliament on 28th October 2014. 

Question Time [Thursday 29th January]

Six Questions with Notice are listed.  Topics raised include mainstreaming
disability into all new legislation about the operations of local
authorities; ZIMSEC examination paper leakages; and taxation of churches or
religious institutions operating business ventures.

Alleged Disregard of Constitution by Executive

The chairperson of the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Justice and
Constitutional Affairs, Hon Jessie Majome, has announced to the press that
her committee intends to take the Executive to task for disregarding the
Constitution.  The instances she cited are:

.        the President's failure to inform Parliament about the deployment
of troops in Equatorial Guinea to provide security at the Africa Cup of
Nations football tournament;

.        the President's failure to give a State of the Nation address to
Parliament;

.        the government's failure to bring existing laws into line with the
Constitution.

Deployment of troops

Section 214 of the Constitution states that when troops are deployed outside
Zimbabwe, the President must cause Parliament to be informed "promptly and
in appropriate detail" where they are deployed and the reason for their
deployment.  The obligation to inform Parliament only arises after they have
been deployed, however, and Parliament has not been sitting since their
deployment.  The President's first opportunity to tell Parliament will be
when Parliament resumes on 27th January.  Until then, the President cannot
be said to have breached section 214 of the Constitution.

When the deployment is reported to Parliament, however, members may well
query its legality.  Section 213 of the Constitution permits troops to be
deployed outside Zimbabwe for the following reasons:

.        on peace-keeping operations under the auspices of the UN or an
international organisation of which Zimbabwe is a member;

.        to defend the territorial integrity of a foreign country;

.        in fulfilment of an international commitment;  or

.        in defence of Zimbabwe's security or national interests.

It may be doubted if providing security at a football tournament falls
within any of these reasons.

State of the Nation address

Section 140(4) of the Constitution states that the President "must" address
a joint sitting of both Houses of Parliament "at least once a year" on the
state of the nation.  The President has not done so since his re-election in
2013, and clearly he must rectify the omission as soon as possible.

Failure to align laws with Constitution

In this regard the government's failure is lamentable.  Nearly two years
after the Constitution came into effect, very little has been done to make
it operational.  Pretty well all the government has done so far is to secure
the amendment of the Electoral Act [and even then it did not bring the Act
entirely into line with the Constitution] and to enact the National
Prosecuting Authority Act.  All the other statutes which are inconsistent
with the Constitution - covering such important matters as citizenship, the
conduct of criminal proceedings, good governance, the rights of women and
children, and provincial and local government - remain unaltered.

The government's failure, as we have said, is lamentable and Hon Majome is
right to point it out.  To some extent, however, the remedy lies with
Parliament itself.  Private members of Parliament can introduce Bills to
align our laws with the Constitution.  Perhaps Hon Majome and her committee
should consider this option.

Bills Still in the Pipeline

Bill gazetted and ready for presentation 

Biological and Toxin Weapons Control Bill [H.B. 5.2013] - gazetted in
January 2014 but never introduced into Parliament.  It is a Ministry of
Defence Bill.  Marondera University of Agricultural Sciences Bill [H.B. 4,
2014] - gazetted on 3rd September 2014 but never introduced.  It is a
Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Technology Bill.

General Laws Amendment Bill  

Vice-President Mnangagwa told a Ministry of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary
Affairs workshop in Gweru a few days ago that this long-promised Bill would
be coming to Parliament soon.  It will make amendments to some 150 Acts of
Parliament to bring them into line with the Constitution.  The expectation
is that most of these amendments will be straightforward routine changes to
update statutes which still refer to provisions of the former Constitution.
It remains to be seen whether will include the further amendments to the
Electoral Act that are needed to bring it fully into line with the
Constitution, over and above the changes made by last year's Electoral
Amendment Act: for instance, the removal from the Act's provisions for voter
registration of all references to the Registrar-General that clash with the
exclusive powers given to the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission by the
Constitution.

Income Tax Bill?

This long Bill is a hangover from the last Parliament.  It was produced by
the Ministry of Finance under Minister Tendai Biti, the MDC-T Minister of
Finance in the inclusive government of 2009-2013, and was intended to make
major changes to Zimbabwe's income tax law.  Parliament hastily passed the
Bill in June 2013, in its dying days before the dissolution of Parliament
ahead of the 31st July 2013 elections.  When it eventually reached the
President much later that year, he refused to assent to it and returned it
to the present Parliament for reconsideration of his reservations about the
Bill.  That was in December 2013.  Although the Constitution requires prompt
attention by the National Assembly to a returned Bill, there was no action
on the Bill during the rest of the First Session, and the Bill remained
untouched on the Order Paper, listed for consideration in Committee, until
the session ended.  It has not appeared on the Order Paper in the current
session, and is presumably being regarded as having lapsed at the end of the
First Session, along with other unfinished business.  In other words, it is
probably now a dead letter.

Government Gazette: 10th to 23rd January

Bills and Acts

No Bills or Acts were gazetted during the period 10th to 23rd January.  All
the Acts of 2014 have now been gazetted, so there are in fact no Acts
waiting publication.  No Bills are currently being prepared by the
Government Printer.

Statutory Instruments [SIs] [not available from Veritas unless otherwise
stated]

Proclamation ordering two National Assembly by-elections - SI 3/2015 of 10th
January contains a Presidential proclamation ordering by-elections to fill
the vacant National Assembly seats for the Mount Darwin West and
Chirumanzu-Zibagwe [see full explanation in Constitution Watch 2/2015 of
23rd January]. 

Customs and excise - increased duty on fuel  SI 4/2015 increased the duty on
fuel by 10 cents a litre [to 35 cents a litre on petrol, and 45 cents a
litre on diesel].  A Government statement published in the press said this
was designed to share the benefit of the reduced global price of crude oil
between the Government and the public.  

Collective bargaining agreement - textile industry - SI 9/2015 of 16th
January deals with contract workers and employees in the textile industry.

Collective bargaining agreement - tobacco sector - SI 12/2015 of 23rd
January specifies the salaries and wages agreed for the tobacco
(miscellaneous) sector for the year 2014.

VAT zero rating for tourism services - SI 10/2015 amends the VAT (General)
Regulations to re-instate zero rating for tourism services.

Food and Food Standards [FFS] Regulations  Four important SIs dated 16th
January enact regulations that are a must-read for all players in the food
and drinking water sectors and their legal advisers:

.        Food inspection and certification - SI 5/2015 [FFS (Inspection and
Certification) Regulations]

.        Packaged drinking water - SIs 6/2015  and 7/2015 contain similar
strict and detailed codes of requirements to be observed by anyone selling,
importing or processing for sale, packaged drinking water other than natural
mineral water [SI 7/2015] and packaged natural mineral water [SI 7/2015]. ]

.        Pre-shipment requirements for food imports and exports - SI 8/2015
[FFS (Import and Export) Regulations] requires the inspection and
certification of all premises operated for the sale, manufacture,
production, procession or treatment of foods.

Each set of regulations provides for the imposition of fines and
imprisonment for anyone convicted of contravening the regulations.  

Renaming of streets in Harare and Bulawayo  SI 11/2015 dated 23rd January
changes the name of Fourth Street in Harare to Simon Vengai Muzenda Street,
and Main Street in Bulawayo to Joshua Mqabuko Nyongolo Nkomo Street.

General Notices [GNs] 

Appointment of Vice-Presidents and Ministers  GN 7/2015, published in a
Government Gazette Extraordinary on 14th January, contains the official
notification of appointments made by the President on 12th December 2014
following the outcome of the ZANU-PF Congress a few days earlier.  [See
Constitution Watch 2/2015 of 23rd January for a note on the appointment of
the Vice-Presidents.]  [GN available from the addresses given at the end of
this bulletin.]

Immunities and privileges for FAO  GN 10/2015 dated 23rd January is a
notification that the President has conferred privileges and immunities on
the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation, its representatives, experts,
consultants, officials and employees, other than individuals who are
Zimbabwean citizens.  

State of disaster - GN 12/2015 of 23rd January gives notice that Acting
President Mnangagwa, in terms of the Civil Protection Act, declared a state
of disaster relating to the bus accident that occurred on 18th January in
the Goromonzi District.

 

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