Zimbabwe Speaker says Parliament cannot debate issues raised on social media

THE HON. SPEAKER: My recollection of Standing Orders, I do not know how the original question was phrased. If the source is from media, print or whatever and is not verifiable, that cannot be regarded as a source of information. So, I am not sure how the first question, the original question was verified. If it was based on social media or any other media source, that cannot be debated as a verifiable source.

HON. HWENDE: Hon. Speaker, the original source is actually your Minister of Youth, Hon. Machakaire.

THE HON. SPEAKER: Order, order! I saw that and the social media was quoting the Minister who did not validate those statements. That is how I read it.

HON. MADZIVANYIKA: Mr. Speaker, my point of clarification is that we have got Government now using social media. Cabinet uses social media after their meetings. They go on to present their findings or their resolutions on social media. So, if we say we cannot rely on social media to validate issues of national interest, I do not think it is sustainable Mr. Speaker.

THE HON. SPEAKER: Order! Now, Hon. Madzivanyika, you quoted the Minister of Information, right?

HON. MADZIVANYIKA: The Minister of Youth and the Minister of Health both used social media to respond.

THE HON. SPEAKER: They did what?

HON. MADZIVANYIKA: The Minister of Youth raised this issue of problems in the hospitals on his Twitter account and the Minister of Health and Child Care used the Twitter account to respond.

THE HON. SPEAKER: Yes. Even then, that is not verifiable. Yes.

HON. MADZIVANYIKA:  Mr. Speaker, Twitter has got verified accounts and unverified accounts. The Minister of Health and Child Care Twitter account has a blue tick, which indicates that it is a verified account. The same applies to Hon. Machakaire’s Twitter handles and above all, Mr. Speaker, can we be furnished with the Order that says social media is not acceptable? Thank you.

THE HON. SPEAKER: Thank you very much. Can we be together? For this matter to be completely addressed, I needed to have Hon. Minister Machakaire and the Minister of Health and then I can interrogate them to make their statements accordingly. To me, that would be a verifiable source because they will be there in person. Thank you.

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