Full statement
HON. NDUNA: Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir, I was just trying to get the attention of the ICT people, so that they may increase the speaker volume a bit – [HON. MEMBERS: Inaudible interjections.] –
Mr. Speaker Sir, what I touched on in particular on the Mines and Minerals Act is very key, so that it can couple and augment the efforts of the Hon. Minister of Finance and Economic Development this year. So that what occurred in 2016, as we review it, we can only look forward in terms of upping review generation from our own God given natural resources. I see the efforts that the Hon. Minister of Mines and Mining Development is engaged in, in terms of capacitating the small scale miners. It can only be augmented and bolstered by legislation, as long as it comes here and we repeal it to empower our formerly marginalised black majority.
The second issue that I want to touch on is the establishment of the Special Economic Zones, which Bill has gone through Parliament and been assented into an Act by His Excellency the President. Now that we have a board in place, it is my fervent view that we can build up on that Act, use the Special Economic Zone Act as a springboard in order to enhance our economic benefit as a nation. I am aware that one of the conditions, in particular, that I called for as the mover of this motion in this House in September of 2015, was 100% capital repatriation plus profits. As long as we do not carry out business in these geographical locations, we cannot emancipate and revitalize our economy. It is my clarion call that if there can be an expeditious establishment of these Special Economic Zones in the identified geographical locations, we can quickly economically benefit the nation and make sure that this so said $4.5 billion economy can go up to a $10.5 billion or even a $50 billion economy, as long as we put out policies in place and make sure that we follow up in terms of implementation.
The third issue that I want to speak about, which I should have coupled with the first one, is the issue of the 30 million raw chrome exports in terms of permission that it has been granted in Cabinet. It would have been my view that if the Minister had said how much it is that we have exported to date and how much we still need to export in order to realise profit. This is how we can benefit from our own God given natural resources.
As I conclude, the issue of ICT can really not be over-emphasized. The Hon. Minister alluded on the need to embrace ICT in order to have a spike in revenue generation and to curb revenue leakages and illicit outflows. So it is in that regard that I also urge him on in order to embrace ICT, to emancipate and augment the efforts of revitalizing our economy. I thank you.
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