[Bill-Watch] Bill Watch 9/2015 of 17th March [Update on Parliament, Bills and Vacancies]]

[Veritas Bill Watch]

BILL WATCH 9/2015

[17th March 2015]

Both Houses of Parliament Will Be Sitting All This Week

Both the Senate and the National Assembly sat in the first two weeks of
March, on 3rd, 4th and 5th, and on 10th, 11th and 12th March.  Sittings will
continue this week, starting today Tuesday 17th March and next week, ending
on Thursday 26th March.  No sittings are scheduled during April, with its
Easter public holidays, Independence Day celebrations, and school holidays.
Both Houses will resume after the break, starting on Tuesday 5th May and
sitting for three weeks.

Parliamentary Sitting Calendar for 2015

Veritas has condensed the Parliamentary Sitting Calendar for 2015 into a
one-page document.  Readers may find this easier to use than the longer
version we offered in Bill Watch 8/2015 of 2nd March.  [A soft copy of the
new one-page calendar is available from the addresses given at the end of
this bulletin].   

By-Elections Called to Fill Mutasa and Mliswa Vacancies

Note: The Chief Justice yesterday granted Mr Mutasa and Mr Mliswa an urgent
Wednesday 1st April hearing of their Constitutional Court application to
have their expulsions from Parliament set aside.  The case will be heard by
the full nine-member Constitutional Court, which will, unusually, be sitting
during its Easter Vacation.  There is no immediate effect on the
arrangements already set in train [see below] for by-elections to fill the
two vacancies.

Declaration of Vacancies in Headlands and Hurungwe West constituencies 

At start of business in the National Assembly on 3rd March the Speaker put
an end to speculation about the effect of ZANU-PF's expulsions of Mr Mutasa
and Mr Mliswa. He announced that on 19th February he had received notice
from ZANU-PF that both individuals had "ceased to be members of ZANU PF
party and therefore, no longer represent the interests of the party in
Parliament" and that consequently, by operation of the law - section
129(1)(k) of the Constitution - vacancies had arisen in the Headlands and
Hurungwe West constituencies.  The President and Zimbabwe Electoral
Commission would, he said, be informed accordingly as required by section 39
of the Electoral Act.  

No mandate to consider Mutasa's claim of wrongful expulsion  The Speaker
also said that, although he had received a letter from Mr Mutasa alleging
his expulsion from ZANU-PF had not been warranted "as due process was not
followed in terms of the internal party democracy", this raised a matter he
did not have the mandate to pursue - because, on receipt of the party
notification, he had been constitutionally bound to declare the seat in
question as vacant.  [Full text of Speaker's announcement available from the
addresses given at the end of this bulletin.]  

Effective date of the vacancies  The effective date of the vacancies has
been taken as 19th February, the date the Speaker received the party
notification that Mr Mutasa and Mr Mliswa were no longer party members.     

By-Elections Called - Voting Scheduled for 10th June

Presidential Proclamations 3 and 4/2015 [SIs 35 and 36/2015, respectively]
order by-elections to fill these two vacancies.  Nomination day is Wednesday
8th April and polling day is Wednesday 10th June.

Nomination Courts

Hurungwe West:     Magistrates Court, Gerrard Drive, Chinhoyi

Headlands:              Magistrates Court, 102-104 Main Street, Mutare.

Comment:  The polling date chosen is not compliant with section 158(3) of
the Constitution and section 39 of the Electoral Act, which require that
polling in a by-election be completed within 90 days of the vacancy
occurring.  To comply, the polling day should have been on or before 20th
May.      

Potential vacancies

MDC-T bid to have 21 Renewal Team/UMDC MPs removed from Parliament

Following the announcement of the formation of the United Movement for
Democratic Change, Douglas Mwonzora, Secretary-General of MDC-T, renewed the
party's efforts to have the Speaker declare vacancies, in terms of section
129(1)(k) of the Constitution, in the seats held by the 21 Renewal Team MPs
concerned [4 Senators, 17 members of the National Assembly].  Mr Mwonzora
wrote to the Speaker and the President of the Senate again notifying them
that the MPs were no longer members of MDC-T.  The presiding officers are
expected to announce their reaction in Parliament this week.  There has been
speculation that the recent changes in the factual situation justify an
announcement confirming that the seats are indeed vacant - which would be a
departure from the previous leave-it-to-the-courts official attitude.  

Mudzi South [Jonathan Samukange, MP]

Also awaiting an announcement/ruling by the Speaker is the point of order
raised on       concerning the position of Jonathan Samukange, holder of the
Mudzi South seat and chairperson of the Parliamentary Legal Committee.  The
point of order claimed that Mr Samukange's recently-announced re-admission
to ZANU-PF has resulted in the loss of his seat by operation of section
129(1)(l) of the Constitution, which states that the seat of an MP "becomes
vacant-(l) if the Member, not having been a member of a political party when
he or she was elected to Parliament, becomes a member of a political party".


Note: Dr Kereke, MP for Bikita West, averted expulsion under section
129(1)(l) in February following his "re-admission" to ZANU-PF.  He did so by
satisfying the Speaker that, because his purported expulsion from the party
before his election had been unlawful, he had been a member of ZANU-PF when
elected and thereafter [see Bill Watch 6/2015 of 18th February].

Update on Bills

Bill already passed by both Houses

Public Accountants and Auditors Amendment Bill - this Bill was introduced in
the National Assembly and passed by it without amendment.  It was then
transmitted to the Senate, and was passed by the Senate without amendment on
5th March.  It is now being prepared for submission to the President for his
assent and subsequent gazetting as an Act.

Bills awaiting progress in the National Assembly

Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (Debt Assumption) Bill - awaiting continuation of
Committee Stage, so far stalled by Opposition points of order.  The Minister
has given notice that when the Committee Stage resumes he will propose
amendments to the Bill: 

.        to insert words in clause 4 in order to extend to "any other
banking institution" the immunity the clause already proposes for the
Reserve Bank itself.  Clause 4, as amended, would read as follows [new words
underlined]: 

     "(4) No action or proceeding shall be commenced or continued against
the Reserve Bank or any other banking institution in respect of a prior debt
assumed by the Minister on behalf of the State, or any other obligation or
claim in connection therewith or arising therefrom."

This amendment is designed to give effect to a recommendation in the joint
report of the two portfolio committees that considered the Bill, namely,
that it would be unfair to grant immunity to the Reserve Bank but not to the
banks which as the Reserve Bank's agents had carried out its orders, even if
some of those orders have been held to be illegal.

.        to replace the Schedule to the Bill listing the Reserve Bank's
liabilities proposed to be taken over by the Government under the Bill [the
list names the creditors, and this new version includes many pages listing
all the small creditors whose names were not individually listed in the
original Bill].  

Both amendments have been reflected verbatim on the Order Paper since 3rd
March [and are available on the Veritas website  <http://www.veritaszim.net>
www.veritaszim.net].

Gender Commission of Zimbabwe Bill - awaiting holding of public hearings
before continuation of Second Reading stage. 

Bills gazetted and awaiting presentation

Marondera State University of Agricultural Sciences Bill [Minister of Higher
and Tertiary Education, Science and Technology Development]

Biological and Toxin Weapons Crimes Bill [Minister of Defence]

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

Bills being printed for gazetting [NOT available until after gazetting] 

Public Debt Management Bill [Minister of Finance and Economic Development]

Criminal Procedure and Evidence Amendment Bill - this very important Bill
will deal with the alignment of our law of criminal procedure and evidence
to the Constitution.  It has been urgently needed ever since the
Constitution came into operation.

 

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