FINANCE deputy minister Terrence Mukupe has said banks have the right to refuse opening accounts for new clients as they are private enterprises.
by VENERANDA LANGA
Responding to MDC-T legislator Bacilli Majaya in the National Assembly on Wednesday, Mukupe said there was no law compelling banks to open new accounts for clients.
“Banks are private enterprises and they are allowed to operate in the manner they wish even declining to open new accounts,” he said.
Mukupe said new employees who might wish to open bank accounts could do so with government-owned banks like POSB.
Asked by Binga North MP Prince Sibanda (MDC-T) if banks were not breaking the law which requires inclusivity, Mukupe said banks were already exercising inclusivity through mobile banking and swipe machines whose thrust ensures they are accessible to all people.
In an unrelated matter, Local Government minister July Moyo told the House that haulage trucks were not allowed to move in high-density suburbs.
This was after Glen Norah MP Webster Maondera (MDC-T) had asked Moyo to explain government policy regarding the movement of haulage trucks after three people, including two schoolchildren, were struck and killed by a trailer which was being towed by a cross-border bus in Glen Norah on Wednesday.
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“Heavy haulage trucks can pass through certain routes, but when trucks are in residential areas it is breaking of the law because zoning does not allow it,” Moyo said.
Primary and Secondary Education minister Paul Mavima was also grilled by Chegutu West MP Dexter Nduna (Zanu PF) over government policy on ensuring that schoolchildren that fail to pay fees were not sent away.
Mavima urged parents to pay fees to ensure that the education system stayed intact.
He said orphaned children were catered for under the Basic Education Assistance Module (BEAM), adding even if BEAM failed to pay on time, they were allowed to remain in class until the fees were paid.
But, Zanu PF legislator Goodluck Kwaramba said rural children were being sent away for non-payment of fees and Grade Seven results withheld.
Mavima was then asked to issue a ministerial statement in Parliament on the issue.
