*HON. SEN. MACHINGAIFA: Thank you Madam President and how are you today? I want to thank the Minister for the Bill that he brought in. A lot has been said about the Bill which is very important and exciting. I stood up to greet the Minister, how are you Minister, work very hard with the Bill that you have brought into this House which is very exciting and which is very important in Zimbabwe. On behalf of the poor men like me who were having problems in getting loans when they are able to engage in businesses, we want to thank you.
My question is if it is goats’, cattle, the loan that you will be getting, how long will that loan be repaid? You should also encourage us Zimbabweans that if we are given the loans, we should repay them instead of lying that the animals have been killed by natural disasters.
HON. SEN. CHIEF NGUNGUBANE: Thank you Madam President. Mine is to thank the Minister. It is a pro-poor Bill. If you are considered to be somebody in society, one of those things that people consider is the immovable property, houses. As alluded to before by Hon. General Nyambuya, most of the people in this country do not have houses. So, this Bill will come in a long way in assisting the less privileged members of the society.
Secondly, I would want to thank the Minister. I think you will take the burden from the people, off the people that have been abused by the so called loan sharks, somachonisa because they could not access banks because of the demands that were there. I would want to find out Hon. Minister, you know that every good thing should be fully explained. The interest rate and the repayment period, we could be happy that we will be able to trade our movable property, but as long as we do not know the interest and the period, we will not know how to go about it.
Finally Minister, I think it is important that there is security of this movable property. It is of no use for me to go to the bank to borrow and I fail to repay the loan. If you look at the number of stories we read in the Press of people who are failing to service their loans, it is alarming. I want to find out from the Minister what measures you have in the Bill to address that? Thank you.
*HON. SEN. CHIMANIKIRE: I want to thank the Minister for bringing in this Bill. Firstly, I would like to thank the Minister because he took time looking at the lives of people in Zimbabwe and he found it befitting to help the poor. My question is, if it takes place, we want to go and get loans and you are a single parent, corruption should not be heard of. Those who are financing first of all look at faces. We want them to help women as women. My question is that I have taken the loan, have a house, children and then nature takes its course and I die. What would happen to my family? Are there ways of easing the lives of my children because death can knock at anytime? So, is there a way to deal with this if death strikes?
THE MINISTER OF FINANCE AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT (HON. CHINAMASA): Thank you Madam President and I want to begin by thanking all Hon. Senators for the support that they are giving to this Bill and also for their contribution. Let me say from the outset that what we are doing is an attempt to change the mindsets of our people and it will not be achieved overnight. The mindset that we are changing is for our people to realise that when they have got these movable assets like sheep and goats, they cannot go out and say I am poor.
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