State of the Nation Address moved to Tuesday

Zvamaida Murwira Senior Reporter—

The State of the Nation Address by President Mugabe scheduled for today has been deferred to next Tuesday, Clerk of Parliament Mr Kennedy Chokuda has said.The Head of State and Government and Commander-in-Chief of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces is in Cuba where he is attending the funeral of that country’s founding president, Fidel Castro Ruz, who died last Friday at 90.

“The Clerk of Parliament, Mr Kennedy Chokuda, would like to inform all Members of Parliament and the nation at large that due to unforeseen circumstances, His Excellency the President R. G. Mugabe will now address a joint sitting of Parliament on the State of the Nation Address on Tuesday 6 December 2016,” said Mr Chokuda.

“This means that tomorrow Thursday, 1 December 2016, both the Senate and the National Assembly will continue with their ordinary sit- tings.”

The yearly event serves as a platform for the President to inform the nation about the country’s current socio-economic and political situation.

His speech is also expected to update Parliament on national development, challenges and how Government intends to overcome them.

Chief among them is the introduction of bond notes aimed at stimulating exports through provision of a 5 percent incentive scheme for ex- porters.

Another objective of the bond notes is to curb the foreign currency leakages as well as arrest the current cash challenges.

The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Amendment Bill, which seeks to give legal effect to the bond notes, is already before Parliament.

The President is also expected to give an update on the Command Agriculture programme under which Government is providing inputs for participating farmers so as to improve crop yields.

At least 19 600 farmers have received inputs under the Government’s specialised import sub- stitution.

At least 163 865 hectares of both irrigable and dry land was now under contract farming, with 75 percent already having been tilled.

SONA is expected to be attended by captains of industry, diplomats accredited to Zimbabwe and senior Government officials.