Parly set to address six key Bills

By Farirai Machivenyika, The Herald - PARLIAMENT will have a least six Bills on its agenda when it next holds sittings two weeks' from now, according to the latest Bills status report.

The President has, so far, already signed the Private Voluntary Organisations Act into law and the Broadcasting Services Amendment Bill approved by the Senate a fortnight ago now needs signature from his excellency for the bill to join the nation's laws of the land. Bills pending before the legislature are the Persons with Disabilities Bill, the Parks and Wildlife Amendment Bill, the Medical Services Amendment Bill, the Insurance and Pensions Commission Amendment Bill, the State Service (Pensions) Bill and the Mines and Minerals Bill.

The Persons with Disabilities Bill seeks to promote the rights and freedoms of people with disabilities.

The Bill will replace the Disabled Persons Act, which is outdated, and will align Zimbabwe’s disability law with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

The Parks and Wildlife Amendment Bill seeks to, among other provisions, empower communities adjacent to parks in the management of wildlife and benefit from any related commercial activities and also compensate victims of conflicts involving humans and wildlife.

The Mines and Minerals Amendment Bill seeks among others, to enable communities benefit from minerals found within their community as well as to address farmers' rights if there are minerals in their farms. 

The Bills has also taken long enough within Parliament with President Mnangagwa not releasing his assent since he suspected some provisions made therein offended against the Constitution. The Medical Services Amendment Bill brings the Act into line with the Constitution, specifically the Declaration of Rights in which the right to healthcare for all citizens and residents is entrenched along with children's rights, elderly's rights, disabled's rights and war veterans' rights in which medical services are a component. The Herald