adminFarirai Machivenyika
Senior Reporter
FOLLOWING the official opening of the Second Session of the 10th Parliament by President Mnangagwa early this month, the legislature has its work cut out with 13 Bills at various stages of debate and progress in both the National Assembly and Senate.
The Bills that are set for debate are contained in a Bills’ status update given by Parliament.
The Bills include the Persons with Disabilities Bill, Civil Aviation Amendment Bill, Death Penalty Abolition Bill, Parks and Wildlife Amendment Bill, Private Voluntary Organisations Amendment Bill, Administration of Estates Amendment Bill, Mines and Minerals Amendment Bill, Medical Services Amendment Bill, the Insurance and Pensions Commission Amendment Bill, a Finance Bill, State Service (Pensions) Bill and the Broadcasting Services Amendment Bill.
The State Service Pension Bill, which is among the major Bills, will establish the State Service Pension Fund, which will boost both financial and social security for eligible retired civil servants who at the moment receive the bulk of their pension through a pay-as-you-go scheme.
The new pension fund will be building up assets, allowing pensions to be paid out of income and interest from these assets and thus assuring State pensioners of their money, regardless of the state, at any particular time, of Government finances.
The major objective of the Broadcasting Services Amendment Bill is to align the Broadcasting Services Act with the Constitution and also with the Public Entities Corporate Governance Act.
The amendment will also modernise the Act, and industrialise the sector.
The Death Penalty Abolition Bill will prohibit any court from imposing the death penalty. It will also state that if the Supreme Court hears an appeal against the death sentence, it must substitute it with some other appropriate penalty.
The clause will also prohibit anyone from carrying out a death sentence that has previously been imposed. Further desired amendments will make it clear that a murder conviction will result in sentences ranging from 20 years to life imprisonment, depending on circumstances.
The Person with Disabilities Bill seeks to provide for the alignment of the law over disabilities to the Constitution.
The Bill reflects a human rights-based approach to disability, fundamental rights and freedoms of persons with disabilities.
The Mines and Minerals Amendment Bill, which has been on the cards for over 10 years, seeks among other issues, to reserve the small-scale mining sector for local people and build up the rights of a farmer ahead of a miner in a case where a mineral is found on actively farmed land, meaning that the miner will often have to buy out the farmer with appropriate compensation if they wish to mine.
The Medical Services Amendment Bill seeks to align the principal Act with the Constitution, especially in the Declaration of Rights where the right to health care for all citizens and permanent residents is entrenched along with the rights of children, rights of the elderly, rights of the disabled and rights of war veterans where medical services are a factor.
The PVO Bill and the Administration of Estates Amendment Bill have been passed by both Houses of Parliament and now await Presidential assent.
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