Mr. Speaker Sir, I know this issue has been discussed for a long time. You are doing something about it. You have also wanted us to also push this even when the national budget is done. I speak as somebody who has no representative because others have got chief whips but again the chief whips, some have not played their role in representing the Members. The chief whip is only effective if the welfare of the MPs who are his soldiers and without that, they will underperform. Some of the underperforming Members of Parliament is as a result of bad remuneration as they think of how they will get home while their kids are at home and out of school. Honestly, how can one have peace of mind to debate when your children are at home and not in school? I say this once again representing Members of Parliament. Some are scared that if they speak, they will be recalled but God has given me that gift to be able to be independent and represent all of them. So, in a nutshell, I am the spokesperson for all the Members of Parliament because of the position I hold. May your office, I know Mr. Speaker Sir, do something because it is a desperate situation. I hear them speak during tea. You cannot talk about the workshop but they are thinking about the children at home. It is not a healthy situation. Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir.
THE HON. SPEAKER: Thank you very much. On the first item, it was a question of the timelines. The Hon Mpofu passed on while we were not sitting. However, you should have recognised that within 24 hours, we published a condolence message in our national papers both public and private in response to the concern that you indicated.
As for the motion, the ball is in your court. I thought you were going to come up with a motion yourself being seized with the matter. So intimately, why not come up with a motion. I am hoping that you will be well seconded as this has happened in the past.
On the welfare, the correct forum is the Committee on Standing Rules and Orders. We have a sub-committee on welfare and these Committees – at one stage Hon. Mliswa you were invited to attend. Your presence there contributed to the increase of sitting allowances substantially, although they were not adequate because of inflation.
On the issue of the overall welfare in terms of salaries, I suggest you can have your written submission to the Committee on Standing Rules and Orders. More importantly, you pass the budget in this House and you need to be alive to the issues of your monetary welfare. It is up to you as the august House to ensure that the budget is fairly stout and takes care of those concerns.
The children who are supposed to be at school and have been chased away, I believe by the headmasters – this is totally illegal. Some 12 years ago, Justice Maphios Cheda made a ruling in the High Court in Bulawayo that it is illegal for any headmaster to tell students not to be at school because the parents cannot raise sufficient school fees. He said in his ruling, the onus is on the parents. The schools must deal with the parents and have some interface with the parents through the School Development Committees so that they can strike a balance. To chase away the learners from school has been ruled as illegal and against the constitutional rights of the child, especially the right to education.
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