Parliament resume sitting this week
Parliament of Zimbabwe is expected to resume sitting for both houses this week since adjourning on the 9th of December last year.
The motion to adjourn the National Assembly was moved by Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube soon after passing the Appropriation Bill and the Finance Bill.
A lot of drama is expected especially in the National Assembly where self-proclaimed MDC-T leader Thokozani Khupe was recalled from the House.
Khupe was recalled through a letter that was sent via FedEx a few weeks ago.
According to Khupe, the Speaker of the National Assembly Jacob Mudenda is favouring Douglas Mwonzora, the current leader of MDC-T.
On the agenda for the National Assembly are various Bills that were gazetted end of last year and the State Universities Statutes Amendment Bill that was gazetted in January.
According to Veritas Zimbabwe, The State Universities Statutes Amendment Bill is flawed as it does not promote academic freedom.
‘’Our conclusion was that the Bill is deeply flawed because it does not wholly succeed in any of the objectives set out in its memorandum and fails completely in what is perhaps the most important one, namely, bringing the State University Acts into conformity with the Constitution’s protection of academic freedom.
‘’ Academic freedom is protected by section 61 of the Constitution. Section 61 expressly entrenches “academic freedom” as a fundamental human right under the general heading of freedom of expression.
‘’The Bill does nothing to remedy this situation. It even adds further provisions extending Government control over important university staff appointments,’’ read the Veritas analysis.
Much attention is expected to go towards the PVO Bill which is seeking to give government power to control the operations of the civic society organisations.
There have been calls from various walks of life for the government to scrap the law or revise it.
