Movement for Democratic Change legislator Prince Sibanda yesterday said Finance Minister Patrick Chinamasa was the only ZANU-PF minister who does not have ZAU-PF DNA because he listens to the people.
Speaking after Chinamasa scrapped the 15 percent value added tax on basic commodities that came into effect on 1 February, Sibanda said that the tax removal would have a huge impact on the cost of living of this nation.
Similar sentiments were echoed by MDC-T vice-president Elias Mudzuri who said a minister who listened to the people was a national leader.
“I just want to thank the minister for his attitude,” Mudzuri said.
“Honestly, if you listen to the people’s voices, then you are in a national leadership.
“Sometimes we do not listen and I just pray that the minister keeps that spirit of listening to the concerns of the people.”
Full debate:
HON. P.D. SIBANDA: Thank you so much Hon. Speaker. I think I was talking to a colleague of mine saying this Hon. Minister is so good that he is the only ZANU PF Minister who does not have a ZANU PF DNA –[HON. MEMBERS: Inaudible interjections.]- The importance of the step that has been taken by Hon. Minister is that these goods that we are talking about are basic necessities for Zimbabweans. The impact of taxing them is huge in terms of the cost of living of this nation. The impact that this would have especially on the small scale to medium enterprises would be huge which are the backbone of our economy currently.
However, I just want to seek clarification from the Hon. Minister, whether on meat and meat products, he includes also such products as kapenta fish. I come from Binga where our major source of income is fishing of kapenta so we want him to clarify whether kapenta is also within the bracket of those goods whose VAT has been set aside. Thank you.
HON. ENG. MUDZURI: Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir. I just want to thank the Minister for his attitude. Honestly, if you listen to the people’s voices, then you are in a national leadership. Sometimes we do not listen and I just pray that the Minister keeps that spirit of listening to the concerns of the people.
Unfortunately for him, the economy is not improving. He wants to increase his tax base but the economy is not improving. Actually, if you look around Hon. Speaker, you will discover that there is a trend of people failing to pay rentals, even everything, they are failing to pay. So, I am not sure how we are going to jump start the economy and probably have some other sources of income. What we should try to do is to close anything that encourages corruption…
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