Bill Watch 67/2019
ZIDA Bill Passed, Progress Made on
Money Laundering Bill & Coroner's Office Bill
6 December 2019
BILL WATCH 67/2019
[6th December 2019]
Both Houses Are Due to Sit Again on Tuesday 10th December
Bill Watch 65/2019 contained speculation that Parliament would, as it has done
in past years, have a ten-day break to allow ZANU PF MPs to attend to their
party obligations in connection with the ZANU PF Annual Conference. [This is
scheduled to run from 10th to 15th December including travelling time to and
from the conference venue at Goromonzi.] Both Houses have, however,
decided to sit on Tuesday 10th December, and may well sit on 11th and 12th
December, in order to complete Budget business and, if possible, more of the
pending Bills.
This bulletin highlights the main Parliamentary activities occurring during this
week’s sittings, i.e., from Tuesday 3rd to Thursday 5th December. A separate
bulletin will outline the programme for next week’s sittings.
Progress on Bills Made This Week
Zimbabwe Investment and Development Agency [ZIDA] Bill
This Bill, as amended by the National Assembly, was dealt with by the Senate
on Wednesday afternoon 4th December, starting with the Second Reading
stage. Hon Ziyambi - The Minister of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs
explained the purpose of the Bill and the amendments made by the National
Assembly last week. These amendments were discussed in Bill Watch
65/2019 and were reflected in a reprint of the Bill made available to Senators
just before the debate. Two Senators made brief contributions to the debate,
and the House moved on to the Committee Stage, using much of the two-hour
sitting to question the Minister on matters of detail.
Senators paid particular attention to the Government decision to downgrade
the ZIDA Board to a purely advisory Board and the Minister repeated the
explanation he had offered in the National Assembly. Senators also pointed
out typographical errors that had occurred in the reprint of the Bill as a result of
renumbering of clauses following the insertion of an additional clause by the
National Assembly. The Minister said these errors did not require formal
amendment, but could be attended to as part of the editing process to which
the Bill would be subjected in preparing it for signature by the President and
gazetting as law.
Finally, the Bill received its Third Reading, meaning that Parliament has passed
it. The Bill can now go to the President for assent and gazetting as an Act..
Note: Standing Order 147 allows minor errors, such as spelling or obvious
grammatical mistakes, typographical errors and necessary re-numbering of
clauses, to be corrected by the Clerk of Parliament under the direction of the
Speaker. Errors of substance though, cannot be corrected except by Parliament.