Bill Watch 65/2019
Progress on Bills, but Not on Budget
1 December 2019
afternoon sittings on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, and 1.25 pm for
Friday morning sittings], stages of Bills being on separate days, Question Time
and Private Members’ business having priority on Wednesdays, and time-limits
for reporting on Bills by the Parliamentary Legal Committee [PLC]. It applies not
only to the Budget debate, the consideration of the Estimates of Expenditure
and the related Finance and Appropriation Bills for 2020, but also to the
Zimbabwe Investment and Development Agency Bill, the Money Laundering
and Proceeds of Crime Amendment Bill and the Coroner’s Office Bill.
Progress on Bills
Zimbabwe Investment and Development Agency [ZIDA] Bill
Tuesday 26th November Following its restoration to the Order Paper on 12th
November, consideration of the Bill resumed at the beginning of the Committee
Stage – the stage it had reached in early August in the last session of
Parliament. The debate lasted until the automatic adjournment at 6.55 pm. At
the start of proceedings the Minister of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs
made a surprise announcement that may throw light on the hitherto
unexplained delay to which the Bill had been subjected in the previous session.
Referring to the proposed amendments to the Bill appearing on the day’s Order
Paper, the Minister said they would be replaced by the amendments he would
be proposing �� which had been distributed separately to MPs only that
morning. As the amendments on the Order Paper were from the joint report of
two Portfolio Committees who had examined the Bill and conducted
countrywide public hearings on it, opposition MPs protested mightily and
suggested referring the new amendments to these committees for
examination. The Committee Stage proceeded, however, with onlookers being
treated to the spectacle of the committee chairpersons [both of ZANU PF]
proposing their amendments only for them to rejected by their own party
colleagues. On the only occasion it was necessary to take a vote, Hon Paradza,
chair of the Foreign Affairs and International Trade Committee, actually voted
against the amendment he had just put forward. The Minister’s amendments
on the other hand were approved [they were radical amendment – see below
for more detail on their effect]. By the end of the sitting only four clauses and
the four Schedules to the Bill remained for consideration.
Thursday 28th November Further amendments were made and the Bill, as
amended, was referred to the PLC for its report on the constitutionality of the
amendments. As the fast-tracking motion was now operative, the PLC met
immediately and promptly produced a non-adverse report, clearing the way for
the final vote passing the Bill and its immediate transfer to the Senate for
consideration on or after 3rd December.
Changes made to the ZIDA Bill
The amended Bill as sent to the Senate differs substantially from the original
Bill. Senators will need a reprint of the Bill incorporating the many