Biti says Zimbabwe’s 2019 budget is meaningless

Another aspect of illegality is the suggestion in the budget that traffic fines must be enforced by members of the security forces, which I took to mean soldiers and non-policemen. That also is unconstitutional. The function of law and order in Zimbabwe is reserved solely for the Zimbabwe Republic Police, and left on their own without political interference, the Zimbabwe Republic Police can do their job.

Another aspect of illegality is the suggestion by the Minister in the Budget Statement that many people are using houses as business premises and he therefore suggests that Customs people must be empowered to carry out searches on these homes. The Constitution is very clear; it protects the privacy of the home. So, neither ZIMRA nor Customs has the power Hon. Speaker with great respect of searching people’s homes.

A more substantive form of illegality in the budget relates to the way we are handling foreign currency in this country. The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe is allowed to retain foreign currency from exporters like ZIMPLATs and other bodies. I would like to submit that is unlawful and if you take the Minister’s budget where some fines and duties are actually going to be in foreign currency. It means that the budget itself should have a section of foreign currency that is going to be received. In other words, there must be a bifurcation of the Consolidated Revenue Fund between that which is expressed in US$ and that which is expressed in local currency.

I want to come to the Reserve Bank. All revenue in Zimbabwe is controlled by the Consolidated Revenue Fund, including foreign currency retentions. So, the Reserve Bank cannot take people’s money and then privately allocate the same. That money has to be allocated by Parliament through the Consolidated Revenue Fund and the Minister of Finance must have an oversight over that. So, I submit that the whole retention of foreign currency and allocation of foreign currency allowing the Reserve Bank to control and use foreign currency in Zimbabwe is illegal and unconstitutional.

HON. CHIBAYA:  Mr. Speaker, I move that the Hon. Member’s time be extended.

HON. CHIKWINYA: I second.

Motion put and agreed to.

THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: Hon. Biti, five minutes to wind up.

HON. BITI: Thank you Hon. Speaker.

Hon. Speaker, I am concerned that the budget deficit of $1, 56 billion that the Minister has budgeted for is grossly understated. Even before we have passed this budget, the Minister has already undertaken to increase the salaries of civil servants by 10%. So that means the figures that we already have are already out by 10% and I submit Hon. Speaker that the solution is not to give X% of increases to civil servants. The solution is simply to pay them in US$ and to re-dollarise the economy.

Secondly and again a driver of the budget deficit – the budget Hon. Speaker, budgets around $300 million in interest payments but we know that the domestic debt is around $10 billion. Assuming that the Treasury Bill interest is 10% of $10 billion is a billion dollars already. So, interest payments cannot be $300 million. They have to be at least $900 million to a billion dollars. So, I submit therefore that a budget deficit of $1, 56 billion is not accurate and is grossly understated.

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