Why Zimbabwe’s parliament must relocate to Bulawayo

The Parliament of Zimbabwe must relocate to Bulawayo as part of devolution and to bring life to Zimbabwe’s second city, non-constituency legislator Priscilla Misihairabwi-Mushonga said in the national assembly on Tuesday.

The former Glen Norah legislator who is representing Matebeleland South said by moving parliament to Bulawayo the government would be creating some economic activities in the city which used to be the industrial hub of Zimbabwe but was dying.

She said in South Africa Pretoria was the centre for the Executive and Cape Town that of the legislature.

“If someone is coming into South Africa, it makes sense to go to Pretoria so that you can engage with the Executive. It also makes sense to also go to Cape Town so that you can engage with the Legislature in Cape Town.

“I know that because of the challenges that we have heard, the spirit of lobbying may not be as it is supposed to be. In most countries in the Southern region, if you get into Parliament, most of the rooms are rooms where serious lobbying is taking place because different stakeholders are coming to push an agenda.

“You are an industrialist, Christian or feminist; you are coming to lobby those people in Parliament so that they can go and push your agenda. That in itself forces people to begin to move into that space so that they can begin to lobby because Parliament is generally about creating lobby groups so that you are able to bring your issues into the House.

“If we were to move this particular Parliament into a different centre, it would mean that those that want to lobby will have to be forced to go to Bulawayo.”

Bulawayo already had the infrastructure because it was able to handle an international event like the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair.

Misihairabwi-Mushonga said she was surprised to hear some legislators asking whether they could find accommodation in Bulawayo, which was a clear indication that some of them had never been to the city.

Below is the full motion:

MOTION

VENUE FOR SITTING OF PARLIAMENT

MRS. MISIHAIRABWI-MUSHONGA: I move the motion standing in my name that this House:
NOTING that the Constitution of Zimbabwe provides for a Presidential Proclamation in setting the venue of the sittings of Parliament;

• CONCERNED that the current parliamentary venue does not providea conducive environment for serious debate;
• RECALLING the need to devolve arms of state to bring Parliament to other centres too;
• NOW, THEREFORE CALLS UPON THIS HOUSE

1. In the short term to change the venue for the sitting of Parliament
2. To consider moving the seat of Parliament to Bulawayo
3. To provide resources for minimum renovations to the current Parliament

MRS. MATIBENGA: I second.

MRS. MISIHAIRABWI-MUSHONGA: I rise to move the motion standing in my name. I say what I say right now on this motion not out of arrogance but merely because I think this is one of the most important motions that we have to debate in this House. I will explain why I think it is the most important motion.

Mr. Speaker, a Parliament shows to the world what a nation stands for. Unfortunately, this Parliament has not been able to show to the world what this country should be standing for. I have listened Mr. Speaker, many times as we have sat in this House and we have thrown things at each other about Parliaments elsewhere.

When I visited the United Kingdom and walked in the House of Commons – [HON. MEMBERS: Inaudible interjections] – one of the striking issues was that even though we have had independence from 1980, we still depict everything about the British Parliament.
The chairs are just as green, the floors themselves are just as green. Even as you walk into the Senate, the carpet is just as red. I think that should say something about us as Zimbabweans. So, Mr. Speaker if we are going to redefine ourselves as Zimbabweans, if we are going to show ourselves as Zimbabweans, we need to start by redefining this House so that it can show the Zimbabwean on its own.

This is not Zimbabwe – [HON. MEMBERS: Inaudible interjections] – when I introduced this motion, things had not gotten as bad as they are today. I speak to this motion with a lot of emotion.

Firstly, some of us were in this House in the year 2000. At least during that time you could tell you were a Member of Parliament. There was some dignity about being in this House. Just to show you Mr. Speaker, how much we have fallen from the ladder. As we were sitting here as Members of Parliament, one of the ladies was going around ticking the names of Members of Parliament, she literally was going over males that are sitting in this House in a short skirt, in a very undignified way.

We asked her as we were seated here, as the female Members of Parliament to say, why are you reducing yourself to this particular level?

Her response Mr. Speaker, was not a response that can be given to a Member of Parliament. Mr. Speaker, it is impossible to speak if we are going to have this kind of attitude [HON. MEMBERS: Inaudible interjections] ….

THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: Order, order, Hon. members, can we have order in this House please. The hon. member may continue.

MRS. MISIHAIRABWI-MUSHONGA: Mr. Speaker, I was going to repeat that as we sat in this House – just to show you how the dignity of the House and the dignity of the Members of Parliament has gone down –

[HON. MEMBERS: Inaudible interjections] ….

THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: Order, order, hon. members, I may ask one of you to go out if you continue making noise. May the hon. member continue.

*MR. CHINOTIMBA: Mr. Speaker Sir, Hon. Misihairambwi Mushonga is talking about dignity whilst the hon. member herself is not properly dressed.

THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: Order, order, there is no point of order. May the hon. member resume your debate?

MRS. MISIHAIRABWI MUSHONGA: Mr. Speaker, I was saying the level of debate in this House is determined by the way the secretariat deals with honourable members is an indication of what we have been reduced to as honourable members. When we came into this House today, we had a situation where a secretariat was literary jumping over hon. members as she was taking down their names. We asked whether that was an appropriate behaviour and the way she answered back is, and I will say it in Shona, because muri kunyorerana mazita. In other words, you as Members of Parliament …

THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: Order, order hon. members. The hon. member may not refer to people who may not defend themselves. Please stick to your debate.

MRS MISIHAIRABWI-MUSHONGA: I thank you Mr. Speaker. What I am trying to explain Mr. Speaker is that, the context in which you live, survive or work determines how people begin to relate to you and that relational problem that we are beginning to have, is an indication of the environment in which we are in – [HON. MEMBERS: Inaudible interjections]. We need to change that environment if we have dignity about ourselves and expect to be treated in a particular manner.

I know that many people may not necessarily want to be treated well, but for those of us that want to be treated with dignity, and those of us that want the future of this country and the future of our grandchildren to walk in this House, and when you are called an hon. member, to know that you are being treated like an hon. member, certain things have to change.

Mr. Speaker, let me move to the specifics. When we had the Official Opening of Parliament, as we walked into this House, women were on one queue and men were on another. At that particular point, I actually thought that some of my sisters, I believe they were still my sisters before they started behaving in the manner they are behaving. I thought some of my sisters had become so genderised that they felt they could not stand in the same queue with men.

It was only when we walked into the House that I understood that they had been more cleverer than I had been because they knew that the House we were coming into was so small, that if you were a woman and you had been standing in front of a man, you literary would be squashed between two men. So, women had decided to have a survival method of creating different spaces. That is not a way you should be introduced to your first day in Parliament. Your first day in Parliament should be where you feel, I am a Member of Parliament irrespective of whether you are male or female. But, from the very start of the opening of this Parliament women had to begin to think about survival tactics and there is an issue with that particular situation.

Mr. Speaker Sir, if we were to switch off the lights right now and put this particular House into darkness, you would probably see people beginning to behave differently because naturally, the brain of an individual responds to a context to which they are set in. The small space that we are in, explains the kind of behaviour that we are finding in this House. That people are screaming and shouting in the manner that they are doing, is reflective of the environment in which they are in. You put these particular women who are shouting and screaming on top of their voices in a space in which they are sitting on their own, in which they are being watched by the world, they would understand that certain behaviour does not define the kind of woman that you are. That, that behaviour can only be a behaviour of a six year old child and not of an adult.

Mr. Speaker, I have to say this, as one of those women that struggled so much to fight for a higher representation of women, – [HON. MEMBERS: Inaudible interjections] – one of my saddest moments is when I begin to see the women that we struggled for ,behave in the manner that they do. It is my saddest period. I am so sad. Every other House or Parliament in the region right now, it does not matter which country you are going to, even the smallest country like Lesotho or Swaziland, you walk into their House, you have the ability to be connected to your wireless. You have the ability to be connected on ICT –

[HON. MEMBERS: Yes, yes]-. You have the ability to go into a committee room and feel that you are in a committee where you are relating. We have been reduced, as this Parliament Mr. Speaker, where you invite people to a committee and you cannot even give them water to drink. We have been reduced to a situation, I sit on a Committee of Public Accounts, and that of Budget and Finance, and I have seen people that are new comers to those committees asking for capacity building and unable to get that capacity building because we have a Parliament that is now in competition with NGOs. We have a Parliament that in itself has no capacity to be able to do certain things.

Mr. Speaker, it is unfortunate because with this particular motion I had believed that Members of Parliament here would know that you have three (3) particular arms of State. You have the Judiciary, Executive and Legislature, and it is entirely up to us as the Legislature to be able to fight to be treated as an equal partner and not as poor cousins. Unfortunately, Mr. Speaker, if you now have a situation where you are in such bondage and you have no ability to see that you are in bondage, then you are really messed up because this particular motion is a motion that should have brought everybody who is a legislator standing up and saying, we are not poor cousins in this country.

It is not the Executive that is important. It is not the Judiciary that is important. We are equally important in the rebuilding of this country –

[HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear] -. The sad thing about this day Mr. Speaker Sir, is that of these people that are in this House. The majority that I have met in corridors have been complaining about the state of things. They were saying, we cannot get coupons; so we cannot come to the House and you are sitting in this House, you have the ability – [HON. MEMBERS: Inaudible interjections] – am I not glad you are back, Mr. Speaker Sir? I am so glad you are back in the Speaker’s Chair. Rambai muchiita noise, vadzoka.

Mr. Speaker Sir, I was just underlining the fact that it is so sad that for this particular motion, which I had assumed that it would be a motion that would bring those of us who are Members of Parliament to agree, because at the end of the day we really are being treated like poor cousins.

Many of them have been complaining that they cannot even have the ability to come to Parliament because they do not have the coupons to bring them here, yet today as we sit in this House and have the howling and shouting of a motion which we are supposed to say to ourselves, let us bring these issues to the Executive. So that as they begin to debate the Budget, we can say we cannot continue to have a legislature that is in the manner that it is.
So, Mr. Speaker Sir, this motion is to raise three fundamental issues.

The first one is the issue around space. I have had to see hon. Members having to sit in the gallery; that is totally unacceptable Mr. Speaker. It is totally unacceptable for people that have been elected to come and sit in the House to reduce yourself to sitting in the Speaker’s Gallery and having to stand in corridors. It does not give the dignity that this House is supposed to give.

I am giving an option, Mr. Speaker. The first option that I am giving is that we have the capacity to be able to find a temporary venue as we begin to look at what we are supposed to do in this particular House.

There are many places in which we can begin to see what we can do, but the Committee on Standing Rules and Orders and the Committee on Welfare should be given the responsibility to look at what are the possibilities that are there in finding a venue.

It is wrong Mr. Speaker, that when we debate the next Budget, we are going to be again squashed like sardines as we listen to the Budget. We should be looking at an alternative venue.

The second issue that I am putting up as a proposal Mr. Speaker Sir, like I indicated to you; I came to this Parliament in 2000. As we came in and as we debated in 2000, we were already beginning to talk about building a new Parliament. It is from 2000 to 2013, thirteen years down the line, we still have not been able to build – [HON. MEMBERS: Ndipo pakatanga masanctions ipapo] –

MR. SPEAKER: Order, order. Hon. member, switch off your microphone. Hon. members, a motion when tabled and sanctioned by the Speaker, must be given the respect it deserves and therefore, if the mover, currently Hon. Misihairabwi-Mushonga, is making her deliberations, it is only fair and proper that you listen. If you have got anything to the contrary, you can always take the floor and debate accordingly. If I am going to notice any member, heckling unnecessarily, I will definitely ask the hon. member to leave the House. [HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear]. This applies to both sides of the House – [HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear]

MRS. MISIHAIRABWI-MUSHONGA: Am I not glad Mr. Speaker that you are back? So, thirteen years down the line, we still have not been able to put up a structure. Mr. Speaker, we can give all sorts of excuses but it speaks to us and what we think is a priority. Five years from 2000 and 2005, there was an identification of a place here in Harare which is usually termed ‘The Kopje’. The architects were there, I just cannot remember the name of the company but I know that it was a Zimbabwean company. They had put in the amount of money that it was going to cost and we believed that in the next two or so years, that Parliament would be done but nothing happened to it.

I take responsibility also Mr. Speaker because I was one of those people during the Constitutional making process that agreed to an increase of the numbers to this House. What we then did not do is to think beyond it and say now that we have increased numbers, what should we do in the meantime. So the building should indeed have been put up. That we did not put it up is an indication of what we consider as important to us and clearly as Zimbabwean leadership, we do not believe that the Legislature is important. I think we need to change that.

This brings me to my last point, Mr. Speaker Sir, which was a proposal. You remember I gave a proposal about an interim venue and I am now giving a proposal to say, given the fact that we have not been able to build that Parliament in the time that we were supposed to build, perhaps, it is time that we started considering a new way of doing business. The centre of the Judiciary is in Harare, the centre of the Executive is in Harare and it will only make sense to begin to say, should we not take the Legislature elsewhere in the spirit of what people debated during the constitutional process. During the constitutional process, one of the major issues that were raised by the people of Zimbabwe across the board, it is unfortunate that when this subject is being spoken about, it wants to be always created that it was spoken in certain centres, and not in other centres, but it was a general position that was taken in this country.

It was a position of devolution. The people of Zimbabwe were saying; please make sure that all the issues that define Zimbabwe are also in various places. One of the requests that they put across among a lot of other things was to say, what defines the State should also be seen to be in other centres.

Mr. Speaker Sir, I think we have a great opportunity, now that we have not been able to build this new Parliament, to take the new Parliament elsewhere. My proposal in this motion is to say, let us take it to Bulawayo. I am sure other members may feel differently. Let me explain to you why I am making that proposal.

I am making the proposal about Bulawayo because we have debated in this House that if we begin to create certain centres of activities, certain centres where the State is forced to do certain things, because you now have a structure that is there, you will begin to create some economic activities. Mr. Speaker Sir, it is not that we all know that Bulawayo has been an industrial hub in Zimbabwe. That hub has died mostly because we do not have things that are happening in that particular area that attract attention.

Let us just use South Africa as an example; if you were to go to South Africa right now, Pretoria for example; that is the center of the Executive. If you move to Cape Town, it is the center of the Legislature. You will be able to see that even the growth that is happening in Cape Town may not necessarily be explained by the mere fact that it is Cape Town. It is explained by the fact that Cape Town houses the Legislature.

If someone is coming into South Africa, it makes sense to go to Pretoria so that you can engage with the Executive. It also makes sense to also go to Cape Town so that you can engage with the Legislature in Cape Town.

I know that because of the challenges that we have heard, the spirit of lobbying may not be as it is supposed to be. In most countries in the Southern region, if you get into Parliament, most of the rooms are rooms where serious lobbying is taking place because different stakeholders are coming to push an agenda. You are an industrialist, Christian or feminist; you are coming to lobby those people in Parliament so that they can go and push your agenda. That in itself forces people to begin to move into that space so that they can begin to lobby because Parliament is generally about creating lobby groups so that you are able to bring your issues into the House.

If we were to move this particular Parliament into a different centre, it would mean that those that want to lobby will have to be forced to go to Bulawayo. It is interesting to note that when I put this motion on, the responses that I heard from my colleague hon. members were quite interesting. Many of them started asking me whether I thought there was accommodation in Bulawayo and where would I stay. For me, it was an indication of the fact that we actually have other hon. members that probably have never been to Bulawayo. Therefore, they absolutely do not have any understanding of what Bulawayo is all about. That in itself is an indication of a problem that we need to deal with because a rounded Legislature, somebody who is going to represent an entire nation should be able to appreciate the different centres that we have in the country. The very fact that Bulawayo holds and hosts ZITF which brings thousands of people into Bulawayo; somebody would imagine that they would not be able to host these particular individuals.

Like I said Mr. Speaker, Bulawayo is only one part that I have pushed because I think it is one of the largest cities that are there. The principle should not be about Bulawayo, it should be about devolving the centres and make sure that all these other things that define what makes Zimbabwe are also found in different places. If somebody has a suggestion about what we need to take from this centre to Manicaland, it would make a difference; to Masvingo, it will make a difference. The idea is; let us look at the principle of making sure that everybody has access.

There is a term that is usually used and sometimes we laugh about it but sometimes it means a lot. Zimbabweans talk about Harare as bambazonke. Many times, you hear that terminology being used and I think if we, as this Eighth Parliament would be able to take a bold decision and say we are moving the Legislature to Bulawayo, it would make a huge difference.

I usually find in your Speaker’s Gallery children from different schools. I do not know whether you have noticed. You probably have not found children that are coming from Binga or Tsholotsho because they are so separated from the Legislative arm. I think it is important… -[HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear]- My own introduction to this Parliament was through a lady called Margaret Dongo. At no time, had I believed that there is a possibility of some young woman coming from some high density suburb in Glen Norah being able to come and stand in this august House. It was a myth. I thought the House was about the Hon. Mnangagwas or Joshua Nkomo. I had not believed that it was possible for a young woman who is coming from Glen Norah to be here in this particular House.

What gave me the passion for coming into this very House was when Margaret Dongo asked me to come and sit in that gallery and I watched her speak and exchange with other males. I watched Hon. Mnangagwa standing up and I realised that there was nothing so spectacular about being a Member of Parliament. It was possible that I would go and stand up and become a Member of Parliament. I want that, for a woman who is in Lupane and for a twelve year old in Binga. I want them to be able to sit in that gallery and be able to say, that can be me tomorrow –[HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear]-

MR. SPEAKER: Order, order. Hon. Chikwinya and Hon.Khumalo, this is my last warning before I march you out of this hon. House. Can you carry on?

MRS. MISIHARABWI-MUSHONGA: Mr. Speaker, this is not to be rude. It is merely to make a point and it is going to be my very last point. I did initially touch on it but it is going to be my final point. It is about the capacity training that you provide for us as Members of Parliament. Capacity Building has always been at the centre of Parliament. It creates the kind of growth that we need. If you are going to have your hon. members in this House deliver in the committees in which we have been placed, unless we have enough time to understand why we are in those committees, we will have a wasted five years. The very fact that for this year, it has been a struggle to get those Capacity Building workshops going, this House has now been reduced to going with a begging bowl. Not only a begging bowl as the House itself but a begging bowl even in terms of the secretariat itself.

Mr. Speaker, I do not know whether you know this but I need to put it…

MR. SPEAKER: Order, order. Will the hon. member address the motion? I thought you were going to discuss the aspect under (iii) in your motion to wind up.

MRS. MISIHAIRABWI-MUSHONGA: Yes, Mr. Speaker, that was…

MR. SPEAKER: And that has nothing to do with Committee Systems here.

MRS. MISIHAIRABWI-MUSHONGA: I had looked at resources but it is fine Mr. Speaker, I can limit it to the issues around renovations.

The last point is just to speak on the issues around what we can do in the interim around renovations which is why I was saying let us link up the interim venue to what is possible to do even with the renovations of this House. I think during the time that we are going for Christmas, if we put somebody urgently now, to begin to look at some of these things when we are not sitting in the House, they may be able to present to us something that is workable. It will be very sad Mr. Speaker, if we were to get into 2014, and we would come back to this House which I have indicated is British in all forms and senses. I, for one, as a proud African woman, would want to come to a House that is totally and completely Zimbabwean.
I thank you Mr. Speaker – [HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear]-

MR. SPEAKER: It is not usual for the Speaker to speak, but I want to assure you on the last part, that things are being put in place. This is why I have said, your motion is very important –[HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear]- Furthermore, just to put everybody on track, Part 9, of our Constitution entitled – General Matters relating to Parliament, Section 150, Venue of Parliament is the sub-heading. Parliament may sit at places other than the ordinary seat of Parliament but only on grounds of public interest, security and convenience. I thought I should put it straight to the House so that those who debate later, are more focused –

[HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear]

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