President Mnangagwa will deliver his annual State of the Nation Address next Thursday when he opens the Third Session of the Ninth Parliament and sets the Government’s legislative agenda for the coming session.
The President combined the two presentations last year as
well. This was said by Speaker of the National Assembly, Advocate Jacob
Mudenda, yesterday in the Chamber.
Adv Mudenda said the official opening of the Third Session
of the Ninth Parliament was consistent with Section 140 of the Constitution,
which relates to Presidential addresses and messages to Parliament.
“The President may at any time address either House of
Parliament or a joint sitting of both Houses,” reads the Constitution.
“At least once a year the President must address a joint
sitting of both Houses of Parliament on the state of the nation, and the
Speaker and the President of the Senate must make the necessary arrangements
for Parliament to receive such an address.”
Adv Mudenda said the President will deliver an address of a
virtual joint sitting of both the National Assembly and Senate. There are a
number of Bills that are still outstanding that Parliament will deal with in
the coming session.
The Zimbabwe Media Commission Bill, which has sailed
through the National Assembly, must now be considered by the Senate.
The Cyber Security and Data Protection Bill, the Financial
Adjustment Bill, the Constitution of Zimbabwe Amendment (Number 1) Bill, the
Marriages Bill, the Constitutional Court Amendment Bill, the Pension and Provident
Funds Bill, the Manpower Planning and Development Bill, and the Centre for
Education, Innovation, Research and Development Bill are in various stages of
becoming law.
Some of the Bills are meant to align statute law with the
Constitution or bring into effect the necessary political and legal reforms
that the Second Republic has set out to achieve.
There is also the much-awaited Mines and Minerals Amendment
Bill, which initially went through Parliament, but President Mnangagwa withheld
his assent and referred it to the House so that it could address concerns that
he felt were not consistent with the Constitution.
Meanwhile, the MDC-T leader, Dr Thokozani Khupe was
nominated as Leader of the Opposition in Parliament, taking over from Ms
Thabitha Khumalo, who was recalled.
This was announced in the National Assembly by Adv Mudenda.
Dr Khupe, together with 14 other legislators who sit in
proportional representation seats, where a party nomination rather than a
by-election suffices, were sworn-in last week to fill in vacancies that arose
following the recall of MDC-T legislators. Herald
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