PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe will next week give a State of the Nation Address (Sona) at a time the country is in a political and economic tailspin characterised by serious cash shortages, company closures, job losses and goods disappearing from the market.
BY VENERANDA LANGA
Speaker of the National Assembly Jacob Mudenda announced in the legislature yesterday that Mugabe would face the nation next Thursday.
“He will address a joint sitting of Parliament on the Sona, which will be delivered at 3pm in the National Assembly,” Mudenda said.
The announcement attracted derision from opposition MDC-T MP for Musikavanhu, Prosper Mutseyami, who interjected saying that this time Mugabe’s speech must be checked to ensure he delivers the correct one.
“I hope you are not addressing the chair, who is not responsible for the President’s speech,” Mudenda responded. Last year, Mugabe mistakenly read the 2015 Sona during the official opening of the previous session of the Parliament.
Meanwhile, Finance minister Patrick Chinamasa was commended by the opposition for following procedures on the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Amendment Bill by allowing the public to air their views on it.
The compliment was paid by Kuwadzana East MP Nelson Chamisa (MDC-T) after Chinamasa had moved for suspension of standing orders relating to the introduction of Bills in respect of the draft legislation to ensure the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Finance holds public consultations on the Bill.
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The Bill will amend the RBZ Act (Chapter 22:15) (No. 5 of 1999) to enable the central bank to issue bond notes exchangeable at par value with the United States dollar on the same basis that it previously issued bond coins.
The Bill will also seek to validate the issuance of bond coins currently in circulation.
The Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Finance is expected to visit various parts of the country next week to get public views on the Bill.
Members of the public have already expressed disdain and lack of confidence in the bond notes, but Chinamasa on Wednesday told Parliament that Zimbabweans would only reject them at their own peril.
