Farirayi Machivenyika-Senior Reporter
FINANCE Minister Professor Mthuli Ncube will soon unveil a series of social safety measures to protect vulnerable groups, Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ziyambi Ziyambi has said.
He made the disclosure at a Question and Answer session in the National Assembly yesterday.
“Without pre-empting the minister (Prof Ncube), he will announce the formation of the Infrastructure Fund that will be used to construct roads, schools and clinics in rural areas, among others,” he said.
The fund, Minister Ziyambi noted, was mooted in line with President Mnangagwa’s vision of leaving no one and no place behind.
He stated that Zimbabwe had achieved significant economic growth under the Second Republic, which has been acknowledged by external financial institutions.
“For the first time in several decades, we have single-digit inflation, the lowest in the region and the IMF has also noted the country’s economic growth of over eight per cent, which was the highest in the SADC region.
“The country has also been removed from the list of fragile and conflict-afflicted economies by the World Bank under the leadership of President Mnangagwa,” he said.
Minister Ziyambi said while it was impossible to completely eradicate poverty, the Government was doing everything within its power to reduce it.
On land administration, he stated that the Government was implementing an e-governance policy to combat the illegal sale of State and municipal land.
“Government policy is that people should have decent accommodation, but we don’t want people who settle themselves illegally in anticipation of their settlements being regularised later because they risk their properties being demolished.
“We also have some individuals who collect money from the unsuspecting public, saying that the money is to pay for regularisation processes; people should be wary of such individuals.
“As Government, we are promoting e-governance so that we have electronic records of land and a digital footprint of all local authorities or Government employees who have access to the system. We believe this will assist in rooting out corrupt individuals who assist land barons in illegal land sales,” he said.
Meanwhile, Minister Ziyambi stated there was nothing amiss with schools suing parents or engaging debt collectors over unpaid tuition fees.
“That’s what we have always been saying: schools should target parents for non-payment of fees instead of targeting pupils through withholding of results,” Minister Ziyambi said.
