DEMOLITIONS : GOVT SPEAKS

The Second Republic led by President Mnangagwa does not wish to see people’s homes demolished, but instead wants to see people with homes they would have lawfully acquired, legislators heard yesterday.

Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ziyambi Ziyambi said the law would, however, take its course on land barons who were fleecing unsuspecting homeseekers of their hard earned money by illegally parcelling out land.

Minister Ziyambi said this during a Question and Answer Session in the National Assembly.

“President Mnangagwa does not want homes to be demolished. Instead he wants to see everyone with his house that would have been lawfully acquired,” said Minister Ziyambi.

“We will be going area by area under a whole Government approach to identify the problems in a given area and the culprits.

“All those that want land must follow laid down procedures. We will go area by area analysing each situation prevailing in that area and we will then look at possible options. The policy of our President is that everyone must have a house,” he said.

Turning to the food situation in the country given the pending El Nino induced drought, Minister Ziyambi said several measures would be implemented once the necessary process of studying the situation was completed.

Asked if genetically modified food would be accepted, Minister Ziyambi said the Government’s policy was that they remained banned but this position would be reviewed once all the necessary studies on the situation were completed.

Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare Minister, July Moyo said the Government would provide social protection measures to cushion vulnerable people against the effects of the drought.

The Government was still carrying out assessments to determine who the vulnerable people were .

“We are aware that more families will be food insecure.

“We are studying the situation at the moment to determine response mechanisms,” said Minister Moyo adding that no family would starve.

Meanwhile, Basic Education Assistance Module funds for school fees of vulnerable children will be calculated in United States dollars with the conversion to local currency made on the date of payment to preserve value, Parliament has heard.

The money will be paid to schools using the prevailing interbank rate, Primary and Secondary Education Minister Torerai Moyo told the National Assembly during a Question and Answer Session yesterday.

Minister Moyo said they have since started paying fees from BEAM as the Government seeks to clear all outstanding arrears.

“We have already started disbursing the money for BEAM. We have started with last year’s arrears and very soon we will be paying for this year,” said Minister Moyo.

“The money has now been benchmarked to the United States dollar to hedge against inflation. It will be paid using the prevailing interbank rate which is a positive development.”

Legislators also expressed concern that most pupils under BEAM were failing to access their results as schools were withholding results citing non-payment by the Government. Herald

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