LEGISLATORS and members of civic society yesterday hailed
the speech delivered by President Mnangagwa as he officially opened the First
Session of the Ninth Parliament saying it had set the tone for economic
recovery.
Mines and Mining Development Minister, Winston Chitando
said the President’s speech was encouraging.
“The whole address was very positive. In the area of mining
we look forward to playing our role and as well as in line with other
ministries on the achievement of the President’s vision of 2030 being a middle
income economy,” said Minister Chitando.
Southern African Parliamentary Support Trust executive
director, Mr John Makamure described the President’s speech as a huge departure
from the previous ones.
“It was a very good address. It is a departure from
previous address. The President dwelled on critical issues of public interest.
I liked his approach that the legislative agenda should give impetus to the
economic agenda. We are past the stage of electioneering. Now we have to
deliver on the promises that were made during campaigns, so the economic agenda
is on the uppermost and you need an appropriate legal framework to drive that
agenda,” said Mr Makamure.
“It is the duty of MPs to ensure that there is new
legislation and amend existing legislation so that the investing community has
confidence in Zimbabwe because the legislation you put in place give signals in
terms of the seriousness to attract investment. It should not be business as
usual, they should come prepared to contribute. The SONA has laid the basis for
the oversight and legislative work of Parliament,”
National Chiefs’ Council president Fortune Charumbira said
the speech focused on what the President had undertaken to deliver during
election campaign.
“We are encouraged and excited by the speech. It touches
and focuses on the issues that the President undertook in his manifesto to
pursue when he is in office. So he has been consistent. He wants to see that
the issues he went with to Davos and also his desire to sanitise and clean the
operating environment for investor, service delivery. For example, the Town and
Country Planning Act has been a stumbling block in terms of planning and
implementing projects. The Mines and Mining Act is another problematic area. It
used to create conflicts between the communities and mining owners,” said Chief
Charumbira.
He also hailed President’s stance on zero tolerance on corruption.
Zanu-PF Chivi South Member of Parliament, Dr Killer Zivhu
commended President Mnangagwa’s commitment on devolution of power to lower
tiers of governments.
He said that would go a long way in capacitating local
authorities, particularly rural district councils that had nothing to show for
their huge endowment of natural resources like minerals and water.
“Rural district councils are endowed with natural resources
but royalties go to central Government. One example is Tokwe Mukosi Dam under
Chivi South, my constituency, local authorities have no power to issue fishing
permits as that is done by the parent Ministry. There are several minerals in
areas like Midlands but local authorities have no say over the investor who
might come. With devolution all the revenue goes towards developing those
areas. An area like Midlands, Mberengwa district, there is a lot of
underdevelopment because the district has nothing to show for the several
minerals found in the area, the same applies with Marange diamond fields,”
Hwedza South MP Cde Tinoidashe Machakaire (Zanu-PF)
commended President Mnangagwa saying the legislative agenda would inevitably
take the country forward.
“We are excited by the speech. It set the correct tone for
economic recovery. What remains is for us legislators to play our oversight,
legislative and representative role to ensure that the vision by the President
is realised,” said Cde Machakaire.
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