Bill Watch 37/2019
In Parliament This Week
& Coming up in Parliament This Week
23 July 2019
BILL WATCH 37/2019
[23rd July 2019]
Both Houses of Parliament will Continue Sitting This Week
E-MAILING VERITAS: A SPECIAL REQUEST
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For all correspondence please use veritas@mango.zw.
For website and social media information see the end of this bulletin.
Marriages Bill Gazetted
The Marriages Bill, 2019 [H.B. 7, 2019] was gazetted on Friday 19th July. The
Bill can be downloaded from the Veritas website [link]. For our analysis of the
Bill see Bill Watch 36/2019 of 22nd July [link].
Bills In Parliament Last Week
Money Laundering and Proceeds of Crime Amendment Bill [link] and
Coroner’s Office Bill [link]
The National Assembly gave both these Bills their First Readings on Thursday
18th July. They were immediately referred to the Parliamentary Legal
Committee [PLC] for its reports on their consistency or otherwise with the
Constitution.
Zimbabwe Investment and Development Agency Bill [link]
Tuesday 16th July saw major progress on the Second Reading stage, with the
presentation of a joint report on the Bill, and on the public hearings held on it,
from two Portfolio Committees – (1) Industry and Commerce and (2) Foreign
Affairs and International Trade.
The joint report was presented by Hon Joshua Sacco, chairperson of the
Industry and Commerce committee. The report [link] welcomes the objective
of the Bill – to establish a One-Stop Investment Services Centre – but
recommends changes to many aspects of it. The changes include a timeframe for operationalisation of the One-Stop Centre and time-frames for
completion of registration of investments and licensing [five days is suggested];
the extension of the One-Stop Centre's sector coverage by adding desks
representing the health sector, small and medium enterprises, parks and wild
life management, tourism and local authorities; changing the composition of
the ZIDA Board by having a majority of its members from the private sector,
instead of Government; appointment of the Agency’s CEO by the Board, rather
than by the President [in order not to undermine the Board]; relaxation of the
Bill's present restrictions on employment of non-Zimbabweans, so as to allow
investors to have senior personnel of their own choice; the need for ZIDA to
decentralise and devolve its operations to provinces and districts under central
supervision.