Author: TSA Press

PARLIAMENTARY COMMITTEES SERIES 46/2019

Open Committee Meetings Monday 9th to Thursday 12th December

There will be three committee meetings open to the public during the week.

The meetings will be held in Parliament Building, Harare, on the dates and at the times and venues indicated below.

Members of the public may attend these meetings – but as observers only, not as participants, i.e. they may observe and listen but not speak. If attending, please use the entrance to Parliament on Kwame Nkrumah Ave between 2nd and 3rd Streets. Please note that IDs must be produced.

The details given in this bulletin are based on the latest information from Parliament. But, as there are sometimes last-minute changes to the meetings schedule, persons wishing to attend should avoid disappointment by checking with the committee clerk that the meeting concerned is still on and open to the public. Parliament’s telephone numbers are Harare 2700181 and 2252940/1.

Reminder: Members of the public, including Zimbabweans in the Diaspora, can at any time send written submissions to Parliamentary committees by email addressed to [email protected] or by letter posted to the Clerk of Parliament, P.O. Box 298, Causeway, Harare or delivered at Parliament’s Kwame Nkrumah Avenue entrance in Harare.

PLEASE NOTE THAT ALL PUBLIC ACCOUNTS COMMITTEE MEETINGS HAVE BEEN CANCELLED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE.

Monday 9th December at 10.00 am

Portfolio Committee: Environment, Tourism and Hospitality Industry

Oral evidence from the Ministry of Environment on environmental management and sustainability

Venue: Committee Room No.  413

Monday 9th December at 2.00 pm

Portfolio Committee: Information Communication Technology, Postal and Courier Services 

Oral evidence from the Zimbabwe Academic and Research Network (ZARNet) on its operations.

Note: This is the second time this meeting has been scheduled.  ZARNet provides Internet and ICT services to the academic and research sector which include kindergarten schools, primary schools, secondary schools, vocational training colleges, university, tertiary colleges, research Institutions, government institutions, and affiliate institutions.

Venue: Committee Room No.  413.

Thursday 12th December at 10.00 am

Thematic Committee: Peace and Security

Oral evidence from the  Health Services Board on the conditions of workers in the health sector

Venue: Committee Room No.  4

Business to be Conducted in Closed Meetings

Portfolio Committee: Defence. Home Affairs and Security Services

The committee will meet to deliberate on the Veterans of the Liberation Struggle Bill

Portfolio Committee: Information, Media and Broadcasting Services

The committee will meet to deliberate on the public consultations it held on the Zimbabwe Media Commission Bill.

Veritas makes every effort to ensure reliable information, but cannot take legal responsibility for information supplied.

Post published in: Featured

Bill Watch 65/2019 contained speculation that Parliament would, as it has done in past years, have a ten-day break to allow ZANU PF MPs to attend to their party obligations in connection with the ZANU PF Annual Conference. [This is scheduled to run from 10th to 15th December including travelling time to and from the conference venue at Goromonzi.]  Both Houses have, however, decided to sit on Tuesday 10th December, and may well  sit on 11th and 12th December, in order to complete Budget business and, if possible, more of the pending Bills.

This bulletin highlights the main Parliamentary activities occurring during this week’s sittings, i.e., from Tuesday 3rd to Thursday 5th December.  A separate bulletin will outline the programme for next week’s sittings.

Progress on Bills Made This Week

Zimbabwe Investment and Development Agency [ZIDA] Bill

This Bill, as amended by the National Assembly, was dealt with by the Senate on Wednesday afternoon 4th December, starting with the Second Reading stage.  Hon Ziyambi – The Minister of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs explained the purpose of the Bill and the amendments made by the National Assembly last week.  These amendments were discussed in Bill Watch 65/2019 and were reflected in a reprint of the Bill made available to Senators just before the debate.  Two Senators made brief contributions to the debate, and the House moved on to the Committee Stage, using much of the two-hour sitting to question the Minister on matters of detail.

Senators paid particular attention to the Government decision to downgrade the ZIDA Board to a purely advisory Board and the Minister repeated the explanation he had offered in the National Assembly.  Senators also pointed out typographical errors that had occurred in the reprint of the Bill as a result of renumbering of clauses following the insertion of an additional clause by the National Assembly.  The Minister said these errors did not require formal amendment, but could be attended to as part of the editing process to which the Bill would be subjected in preparing it for signature by the President and gazetting as law.

Finally, the Bill received its Third Reading, meaning that Parliament has passed it.  The Bill can now go to the President for assent and gazetting as an Act..

Note: Standing Order 147 allows minor errors, such as spelling or obvious grammatical mistakes, typographical errors and necessary re-numbering of clauses, to be corrected by the Clerk of Parliament under the direction of the Speaker.   Errors of substance though,  cannot be corrected except by Parliament.

Money Laundering and Proceeds of Crime Amendment Bill Amended

On Tuesday 3rd December the Parliamentary Legal Committee [PLC] returned a non-adverse report on this Bill, as amended last week by the National Assembly [the amendments will be on our website soon].  The Bill  with these amendments was then sent to the Senate, which dealt with it on Thursday afternoon.

Senator Chief Siansali proposed changing one of the National Assembly’s amendments  This amendment had removed the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission [ZACC] and the National Prosecuting Authority [NPA] from the list of authorities able to apply to the High Court for Unexplained Wealth Orders [UWOs] – leaving only the police and the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority [ZIMRA] able to apply to the High Court for [UWOs].

The Senate’s amendment was supported by Minister Ziyambi and adopted – thus restoring powers to NPC and removing those of the police to obtain UWOs.  This would mean only ZIMRA and NPA would have these powers – not ZAAC and not the police.  Chief Siansali’s amendment was sent to the Parliamentary Legal Committee [PLC] to report on the constitutionality of his amendment.  A non-adverse report is expected next week.

When cleared by the PLC and finally passed by the Senate, the amended Bill will have to be referred back to the National Assembly for its approval of the Senate’s amendment – this is likely as it has the backing of Minister Ziyambi. These steps could be completed on Tuesday 10th December or the next day, when both Houses will be sitting – and if that happens, the Bill will have been finally passed by Parliament in the amended form and could be sent to the President for assent and gazetting as law.

Coroner’s Office Bill

The Second Reading stage of this Bill resumed on Tuesday 3rd December with the presentation of the Portfolio Committee on Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs’ report on the Bill and the public hearings conducted by the committee.  Debate continued on Thursday 5th December and the Bill was given its Second Reading, following immediately by the Committee Stage.  The House approved amendments to clauses 7 and 14 [link] of the Bill proposed by the Minister of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs following suggestions made by the Portfolio Committee and during the Second Reading debate.  The amended Bill was then referred to the PLC, which – as the Bill is being is fast-tracked in accordance with the motion approved last week – will probably report on Tuesday 10th December.  If the report is non-adverse, the Bill could be finally approved and transmitted to the Senate on that day.

Freedom of Information Bill [link]

At the end of Thursday afternoon’s sitting at 6.45 pm the Minister Ziyambi standing in for the Minister of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services, delivered a brief speech explaining the purpose of the Bill and commencing the Second Reading Stage.  In the absence of the chairperson of the relevant Portfolio Committee to present the committee’s report on the Bill, the House then adjourned the debate until Tuesday 10th December; the practice is that presentation of this report is the next step after the Minister’s speech.

PLC Non-Adverse Reports on Bills

On Thursday 5th December the Speaker announced that the PLC had submitted non-adverse reports on the following Bills:

• Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Amendment Bill
• Veterans of the Liberation Struggle Bill
• Constitutional Court Bill.

Note:  A non-adverse report on a Bill normally take the form of a two-sentence letter to the Speaker or the President of the Senate, whichever is appropriate, reporting the date of the PLC meeting and the Committee’s opinion that the Bill is not in contravention of the Constitution.  No reasons for the opinion are given.

Privileges Committee’s Report on Allegations of Soliciting Bribe by Four MPs

In February this year a Committee of Privileges, chaired by Senator Chief Charumbira, was established to inquire into allegations of soliciting a bribe against four members of the National Assembly, all of them members of the Portfolio Committee on Mines and Mining Development at the relevant time.  On Wednesday 4th December Senator Chief Charumbira presented a motion asking the National Assembly to take note of the committee’s report on the matter.  The lengthy report concludes that:  there was no breach of privilege or contempt of Parliament but that their meeting with the Goddard Team (Messrs. Goddard, Tundiya and Steyn who later accused them of soliciting a bribe) outside the parameters of official Committee business at night and by further engaging in a discussion on a matter that was before the Committee (a mining contract at Hwange) created an impression of impropriety.  Therefore the Committee recommended disciplinary measures for their actions inconsistent with Parliamentary decorum, i.e., that the four Members should be prohibited from sitting in the Portfolio Committee on Mines and Mining Development for the rest of the 9^th Parliament; they should prepare and deliver a statement of apology to Parliament; and they should forfeit one sitting allowance.  Debate on Chief Charumbira’s take note motion was adjourned, to be resumed on a later date.

Appointment of Privileges Committee to Investigate MDC-A MPs’ Conduct

On 3rd December the Speaker announced that the Committee on Standing Rules and Orders had nominated a Privileges Committee as called for by the National Assembly’s resolution of the 14th November, referred to in Bill Watch 62/2019 [link].  The full text of the announcement is available on the Veritas website [link]; it sets out the background to the appointment of the committee, the names of the nominated committee members and the committee’s terms of reference.   Immediately after the Speaker’s announcement Hon Priscilla Misihairabwi-Mushonga of MDC-T told him that she wished to decline the nomination on the ground that she was “conflicted”.  The Speaker accepted this, and on 5th December the Speaker announced that the CSRO had nominated Hon Priscilla Moyo to take the vacant place on the committee.

Hon Samukange, a lawyer, chairs the committee, and the other members are now Hons Joseph Chirongoma, Omega Hungwe, Cecil Kashiri, Stars Mathe, Levi Mayihlome, Priscilla Moyo, Kindness Paradza and Algenia Samson; all are ZANU PF, and four of them are women.

Vacancy in the National Assembly

On Tuesday 3rd December the Speaker informed the House that Hon Alice Ndlovu, a ZANU PF proportional representation MP from Matabeleland South province had died.  MPs observed a minute’s silence in her memory.  The vacancy does not require a by-election.  As the late Hon Ndlovu was a proportional representation [women’s quota] MP, her seat will be filled in accordance with section 39 of the Electoral Act – by another woman nominated by ZANU PF and, in the absence of valid objection, appointed to be an MP by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission.

Progress on the Budget Debate

The Budget debate also proceeded in fits and starts during the week – beginning with presentation of the report of the Portfolio Committee on Budget, Finance and Economic Development, and followed by reports from all other Portfolio Committees.  The last report was presented during Thursday’s sitting, and individual MPs then started making their contributions to the debate, to be continued next week.

Veritas makes every effort to ensure reliable information, but cannot take legal responsibility for information supplied.

Post published in: Featured

It is considered to be deserved because a person worked hard to achieve such results. But when someone succeeds in business or breaks a bank in poker, for some reason, all merits are assigned to luck.

But how is business different from sports? Businessmen and even professional poker players work no less than athletes preparing for serious competitions. They train and hone their skills every day for a long period of time. Do they get acquainted with the special content? Like online casino South Africa and on various business sites. Casinority.com created worth-watching lists of legal and safe casinos. Just try some of them to become a part of the modern world of human being

To attract good luck in your life, it’s important to “open the door for it”. It means you need to change something in your life. You should be ready for a new experience. Here are some possible examples:

1. Live with a positive.

You need to change your thoughts. Think in a positive way, smile more often, stop being envious. Look for the pros in everything, and you will be surprised how it will change the world around you. New people will reach for you; you will make new acquaintances, some of which you may find beneficial.

2. Don’t be afraid to risk.

Of course, risk should be justified. Do not make large bets gambling if you have no experience. This applies to both gambling and business. To be more skilled, visit casinority.com, where experts prepared the most qualitative info. Even calling a girl you like out is also a huge risk! Try something new, even if you are not sure about the result in advance and so that luck comes to you. It is as useful as interesting.

3. Set a goal, but don’t get obsessed with it.

In order to get something in life, you need to think about it all the time. Set a goal and scroll it in your imagination. For example, if you want to buy a car, you need to imagine it in great detail: what model and color will it be. Imagine sitting in it and driving through the streets of the night city. A powerful message will certainly reach the Universe, and it will reward you with your dream comes true.

4. Take every chance in your life.

Luck often arises precisely from accidental situations. Life itself is a series of accidents, but for some reason, most people are afraid of it. Everyone is used to living on a schedule, in familiar territory, so that everything is as usual. Unlikely you will be lucky in this case; luck loves the brave ones. After all, do you know who will never win at the casino? The one who does not play!

5. Don’t be afraid of making mistakes.

Only those who do nothing are not mistaken. You may lose a lot of money, or your business may not flourish. However, your mistakes must not be forgotten. After all, mistakes create your experience, and any experience will certainly help you in the future. Let it be the experience your future decisions will be based on.

6. Surround yourself with the talismans of luck.

Buy special items to attract luck, no matter what will it be. The main idea is to believe that their presence will help to boost your luck. You can have a talisman and start to believe that it will attract good luck to you. Faith is a very powerful force. It can work as a placebo effect in medicine does. The patient is given ascorbic acid or a calcium tablet; then doctors say it is a new drug for his illness, and you will be surprised, but it really helps him.

7. Open your doors to the world.

Learn to say yes to life. Remember one famous American film with Jim Carrey in which the main hero lives a boring, worthless life, but one day he starts saying “Yes!” for all offers? Do you remember how his life changed? It has become much more interesting. He has found true friends and his love. Try to follow his example. Of course, life is not a movie, and you can not always agree with everything. But if your friends invite you on an interesting trip, be sure to accept the invitation.

Never lose heart! Remember the great people who have been haunted by various failures throughout their lives. But they could not only go forward. They also have reached incredible heights! Remember that it’s never too late to live!

Post published in: Featured

Pedestrians in downtown Harare, Zimbabwe.

The government of Zimbabwe is set to urgently start the construction of Manyame and Warren Control Pump stations in two months’ time in a quest to elevate water shortages in Harare and its surrounding towns.

This is after the government allocated US $9.3m following a report that row water from Lake Chivero is not good for human consumption and it is expensive to treat. The report further stated that pumping water from Lake Manyame would reduce the usage of aluminium sulphate by 26.8%, consequently reducing the cost of water treatment as aluminium sulphate is the main chemical in the water treatment process.

July Moyo, the Minister of Local Government and Public Works said that the installation of appropriate water meters will be undertaken concurrently with the cited works to keep up with the scheduled timeframe.

Lasting solution to water problems in Harare

With 100 million liters a day, Harare is only producing 20% of its daily demand water averaging 450 million liters a day, because it does not have an adequate supply of chemicals to treat the water.

Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services Minister Monica Mutsvangwa said that to provide long-lasting solutions to water problems in Harare, the government ought to allocate enough foreign currency to Chemplex Corporation to import water treatment chemicals.

She also called for the provision of loan guarantees for various water and sanitation projects to be undertaken by local authorities using various project procurement methods that suit their specific requirements. Furthermore, she needs hefty fines to be imposed on polluters of water sources.

The government is also set to assist in the rehabilitation of Morton Jaffray Water Works and the pumping of water from Lake Manyme, which has the capacity to pump 600 megalitres.

Post published in: Featured

What legal movie thriller features this derisive line about law school: “I discovered the law again. You actually made me think about it. I managed to get through three years of law school without doing that”?

Hint: The movie was based on a 1991 novel of the same name.

See the answer on the next page.

Findings from the 12th Annual Law Department Operations Survey – Webinar

Findings from the 12th Annual Law Department Operations Survey – Webinar

BLICKSTEIN GROUP & ABOVE THE LAW

When talking heads complain about “political correctness” and how “it’s impossible not to offend these people,” they’re kind of missing the whole point. Doing right by folks is not a quest for perfection, but a willingness to embrace shortcomings and to take action to get it right. In other words, don’t get defensive, get proactive.

Last year, Paul Weiss announced a new partnership class that might well have raised no eyebrows except that it came with a picture worth several thousand words and those words weren’t particularly positive. The partnership welcoming portrait showed a gaggle of white men followed (alphabetically, but that didn’t help the optics) by a lone white woman. Paul Weiss employees flooded our inbox with the image and, as we explained at the time, the fact that the image didn’t set off any red flags before released summed up the problem with Biglaw writ large: it’s not the lack of diversity as much as the inability to notice the lack of diversity as out of the ordinary.

When called out for this, many firms would double down or try to just weather the bad press and carry on. Paul Weiss took the opposite course.

The firm quickly held a town hall to hear from the concerned attorneys and explain plans to address diversity concerns. Over the course of the year, the firm took the initiative to add diversity through the lateral market, landing former Attorney General Loretta Lynch and Supreme Court litigator Kannon Shanmugam. The rest of the lateral class for the year: Jeannie Rhee, Sarah Stasny, Jean McLoughlin, Andrew Finch, and Laura Turano brought more diversity to the ranks and the incoming class, announced today, adds even more women. From a memo released this afternoon:

Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP is pleased to announce that seven attorneys have been elected to the partnership, effective January 1, 2020: Jonathan H. Ashtor, Rachael G. Coffey, Alexia D. Korberg, Caith Kushner, Kyle T. Seifried, Brette Tannenbaum and Austin Witt. All are resident in the New York office.

When Paul Weiss got publicly called out over this last year, we noted that there was some sense of karmic injustice to it. After all, other peer firms had atrocious diversity records but were flying under the radar simply because they didn’t put their classes in a picture.

On the other hand, maybe karma did right by the industry here. There aren’t many firms that could have stumbled like this and then turned around to provide a blueprint to the whole profession of how to make amends.

Diversity isn’t something that gets “solved.” That’s sometimes difficult for results-minded professionals to accept, but diversity is always a process of striving to get better. Paul Weiss spent 2019 showing that it took 2018 seriously and understands that there’s always more to be done. It knows it’s not perfect, because perfection is an empty concept invoked to engender complacency. But the firm’s going to adhere to a strategy of promoting diversity in its partnership whenever and wherever it can.

And that’s what it means to be proactive.

Earlier: Paul Weiss Press Release Captures Everything Broken About Biglaw In One Image
If A Biglaw Firm Falls In The Woods And No One Issues A Press Release About Its Lack Of Diversity…

---

Joe Patrice is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news. Joe also serves as a Managing Director at RPN Executive Search.

Gary Senior is the former London Managing Partner at Baker McKenzie, and he’s embroiled in a sexual misconduct scandal. He’s already admitted he acted inappropriately with a junior associate in 2012, but the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal is conducting hearings over the alleged sexual harassment investigation.

The prosecution in the case says that in the incident in question, Senior was “seeking to initiate intimate activity” with a junior associate which he was in a position of “authority and responsibility over.” They went on to note Senior “knowingly caused [the junior associate] to be alone with him and told her he was attracted to her” and “attempted to embrace and kiss” her and that Senior “persisted in said conduct despite [the junior associate] indicating that such conduct was not appropriate.”

During testimony this week in the tribunal, Senior was questioned and said that if he wasn’t drinking during on the 2012 night in question, the incident would “probably never have happened.” He also said he “operated in the drinking culture that you find in all big law firms,” and that there are “many examples of partners willing to drink late into the night with all kinds of employees.” He went on, “I have done more of that than I should have done as managing partner and realize that’s an error on my part,” he said, “and the night [of the alleged incident] was an example of that.” And as reported by Law.com, the firm attempted to restrict Senior’s alcohol consumption going forward, though exactly how they did that was unclear.

Baker McKenzie as well as the former head of human resources, Martin Blackburn, and former litigation partner Tom Cassels are alleged to have allowed Senior to exert influence over the firm’s internal investigation. The hearings are ongoing.

---

Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, and host of The Jabot podcast. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter (@Kathryn1).