Hon. Sen. B. Sibanda – how much consultations have taken place in the banking institutions, in fact the banking institutions are supporting this Bill to the yield for different reasons I suppose. Their main interest in this Bill is the creation of a Collateral Registry. The problem that we have identified as being the cause of many non-performing loans are people who hop from one banking institution to another borrowing without any intention to pay back. This is because there was no framework under which one bank could go to another and say who has borrowed for you. That information was treated as confidential.
Now, Collateral Registry will basically tell us not just people who are borrowing, small like we are talking about but they will have a register of all borrowers and a banking institution can access that information before it considers a loan to any person who comes to borrow. Because of the Collateral Registry, it will mean that the bank at least is now better placed to avoid people who will give rise to bad non-performing loans especially those who are just fraudsters in a way who walk from one bank to another to borrow. This is to combine it or to complement the Credit Reference Bureau which as you know, we passed in this august House through the Banking Amendment Bill which is now law. So, we are trying to tighten up on credit, with a view basically to avoid the bad apples and I think we will get there.
Hon. Sen. Chimhini, thank you very much for your support. You raised a question – can we force banks to lend? No, we cannot. Like I mentioned, banks’ main business is to lend but they want to lend to good borrowers who will use the money for the purpose for which it is borrowed and who will be able to pay. That is the relationship you will have between yourself and the bank. We cannot say for instance, Senator Chimhini, go to Barclays; and say you must lend to Senator Chimhini, who wants to build a house or buy cattle. If we do that it will not work. In fact, it may well end up that Senator Chimhini will end up borrowing just to go and marry other women. Muzukuru ndakukutsvinyira manje. You do not borrow to go and pay lobola; a woman is not a tractor.
Hon. Sen. Mohadi, thank you very much for the support and like you have mentioned, we are including livestock, that includes cattle, goats and sheep. What it means basically Madam President, is that the inclusion of livestock will entail a system of identification. We cannot just say a cow; it means we are talking about branding. Especially with branding, we are now talking about cattle tags so that the beast will be clearly identified. With respect to what happens to those who breach, we will certainly come up with regulations that will criminalise disposal without the consent of the lender.
I know branding is an exercise that has already been started by the Ministry of Agriculture. It is still at its infancy stage but the police and Ministry of Agriculture have been encouraging branding cattle so as to minimize theft and also to make it easier to trace any stray animals. It becomes easier if in fact it is branded and it has cattle tags.
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