Thread by @OpenParlyZw

HON. DAVID TEKESHE: IN 2008 MANY PEOPLE WERE KILLED NO ONE WAS ARRESTED

HON. DAVID TEKESHE: Thank you Mr Speaker Sir. This is the third year and I am happy to be able to debate on this SONA. It was not coming out all this time. Mr Speaker Sir, I want to speak very few words.

@HTekeshe : The President spoke about devolution and it must include Members of Parliament and councillors. It must not be done by councils only without MPs because we are the custodians of the people. We move in different areas.

@HTekeshe : In my area, we do not even understand how the devolution funds were managed. So we are
appealing that the devolution issue include Members of Parliament, even for us, to just censor for free, we do not mind.

@HTekeshe : On the issue of education, we are saying that Govt and teachers must not fight to show their powers. People must sit down and negotiate in a very good way so that the teacher can survive well
because teachers are suffering.

@HTekeshe : In Botswana, you can count number of cars parked outside & know number of teachers but here in Zim you cant find even a bicycle parked outside classroom. If we force teachers to go to schools & teach without being well resourced, our kids wont receive enough education

@HTekeshe : That is when we hear that our leaders’ children go to other countries for education, but I am happy the President said we are going to negotiate with the teachers. We are saying we must take the President’s words to negotiate. @ARTUZ_teachers @ProgressiveOf @zimta01

@HTekeshe : So Ministers must negotiate with the teachers and not fight because we will not achieve anything. We want our teachers to survive very
well because when we were growing up, the teacher was very important and was a respectable person. So, where is the importance now?

@HTekeshe: Therefore we must resolve this issue.
The President also talked about the issue of health. I do not know where other Members of Parliament come from but in my constituency, there is a very big problem. There are no medicines, there is nothing.

@HTekeshe : We see that our leaders go outside the country for medication. I heard that the late former President spent about $3 million to go for medication and it ended up in us not having medicines in hospitals.

@HTekeshe : So the issue of doctors, they are saying they do not have proper equipment and it is very true. There are no medicines, there is no equipment. Many cancer and diabetic patients are dying.

@HTekeshe : What Ministers say when they come into this House when we ask them about policy of taking care of the aged, they say something else & yet on the ground its different. When someone is a cancer patient & applies for social welfare grant, that application wont come back.

@HTekeshe : For a country to be called a country it is because of the health system. Without health, even becoming a Member of Parliament does not make any sense. You must be healthy first in order to go to school and to work. So we are lagging behind on that
issue.

@HTekeshe : The President said health must be looked into. We have a surplus but there are no medicines in the hospitals. A Member of Parliament previously said there are some people who say doctors must go to hospitals to prescribe medicines yet there
are no medicines.

@HTekeshe : The medicines are very expensive in pharmacies. Sometimes we end up hiding because Constituency members may bring about 20 prescriptions to us at our offices seeking for help. So we are appealing to Government to intervene.

@HTekeshe: A law must be enacted so that if someone is airlifted and goes for treatment outside the country, he/she gets arrested. Everyone must receive medication in this country. On the issue of roads, I am very happy.

@HTekeshe : I was in Masvingo and we are very happy, we are glad about the works being done on the road infrastructure. The refurbishment of roads is moving forward. We wondered where money from tollgates was going to but now, we are seeing progress.

@HTekeshe : The problem is in the rural areas where there are no roads. Since I started my term for the past three years, I have never seen even one grader working on the roads.

@HTekeshe: So we are appealing that the program of roads refurbishment must take place on rural roads because during election campaigns, we see politicians
becoming very busy in those rural areas lobbying for support.

@HTekeshe : We must treat these people fairly. Even before the elections, the roads and bridges must be repaired. On employment, the President talked about employment creation but the greatest percentage of employment creation is vending.

@HTekeshe : The vendor’s life is very important during election time, but after election time they get chased away by council police. They are trying to survive but they are being arrested by police. Govt can get money from the vendors. I am saying if we can
have laws on vending.

@HTekeshe : As Parliament, we can enact a law which
obliges them to must pay taxes so that Government benefits. There are no jobs; there is no one who gets oxygen from pumping air. Even right now, Members of Parliament we are saying our salaries are not enough.

@HTekeshe : So we must put laws that support the
vendors because it is a major employment activity in the country. On the issue of Pfumvudza, Pfumvudza is a very good scheme, but it needs to be looked into because sometimes there is corruption.

@HTekeshe : Corruption must end. Deserving people must get the inputs. It must not be one sided; benefits must reach the deserving people. We must not look at political parties at the time of inputs distribution. It must
be done in time. Even the elderly we must look after them.

@HTekeshe : We are saying Pfumvudza Program must be done this year and the following year then after that everyone must be self sufficient. A child must be given the opportunity to grow because not teaching the
child to walk day in and day out does augur well.

@HTekeshe : We must introduce competition to farmers; empower them with skills and promotional materials and you will be a winner. Previously, some were given diesel but they ended up selling that
diesel.

@HTekeshe : There are programs like Presidential Inputs Scheme where a person must be given inputs & he/she pays back. We went to a workshop where we talked about development. We talked about youths given loans, but some said if you fail to return the
money there is no problem.

@HTekeshe : But, a person must repay whatever he or
she has been loaned. The President wants development. A person must return what he/she has borrowed so that our country will move forward. We are aware @edmnangagwa is moving forward towards the development of our country.

@Htekeshe : However, on the issue of CDF, we are appealing that we must not embarrass the President by issuing meager funds. Those who are responsible for issuing out CDF funds must allocate reasonable amounts, not figures like $1700 for the whole constituency

@HTekeshe : People will then blame the President and not the issuing office. Allocate reasonable amounts so
that we develop our constituencies. People think that we are issued with a lot of money and always ask about the CDF funds because they do not know that the money is meager

@HTekeshe : On the issue of corruption, we will not be able to achieve Vision 2030 when we do not do something to eradicate corruption. In China and Rwanda, there is zero tolerance to corruption. You will be sentenced to death because of corruption.

@HTekeshe: I remember when ESAP was introduced, there was a lot of corruption. Cabinet had many Ministers. Then the yesteryear President just removed the ministers and reappointed them as governors. The package was the same with what Ministers were
entitled to.

@Htekeshe: That is corruption; nothing was done because he was supposed to send them home to cut expenses. There were 50 Ministers and he reduced them to 15 and that did not help much. Corruption is not about money only; it involves abuse of office also.

@HTekeshe: I am pleading with the Executive not to be corrupt. There was an investor called Dangote; people were happy to hear of his coming but he heard that Zimbabwe was very corrupt and he just left – [AN
HON. MEMBER: Is that the reason?] –

@HTekeshe : That is the reason, he saw it not fit to invest in Zimbabwe. When we speak about the ease of
doing business, let us do it wholeheartedly. We must not request for bribes or kick backs when giving people contracts.

@HTekeshe: His Excellency the President also talked about people who commit murder. I was so touched by this issue but however, I was happy that when the issue of a murdered child was brought to Parliament, we all debated that it is wrong.

@HTekeshe : We must not just pay lip service but we must act. If we say this is wrong & we start seeing some murder cases being given preference over other cases, like the case of a soldier who was murdered in Chivu, whereby following day action was taken &people were arrested.

@HTekeshe : In 2008, a lot of people died and no one was arrested. We do not progress; if people are not arrested they will continue to murder because they know that they are protected.

@HTekeshe : If we want to support our President, we must respect life no matter what party they belong to, their age, occupation, gender, et cetera. People must be treated equally. We must be pained by lives of our people. Mr Speaker Sir, I want to thank you for this opportunity.