-‘2030’ amendment missing
-ambitious 38 bills tabled
HARARE-When the President delivered his State of the Nation Address on the 28th October last year, he outlined the Government’s legislative programme for the new session of Parliament – that is to say, he announced the Bills which the Government hopes to present in Parliament during the coming year.
With Parliament resuming its sittings next Tuesday – for its agenda when it resumes see Bill Watch 1/2026 [link] – this is an appropriate time to look at the Government’s legislative programme for the rest of the year.
Uncompleted Bills
The President began by noting that several Bills announced in previous years had not been passed by Parliament; the total backlog of Bills, he said, was unacceptable.
Some of the Bills he mentioned in this context are currently at various stages in their passage through Parliament:
1. Insurance and Pensions Commission Amendment Bill [link]: This Bill is awaiting its Second Reading in the National Assembly.
2. Mines and Minerals Bill [link]: The PLC has reported adversely on this Bill, and the report is being considered by the Assembly.
3. Occupational Safety and Health Bill [link]: This Bill is due to undergo its Committee Stage in the Assembly.
4. Pipelines Amendment Bill [link]: This Bill has since been passed by both the National Assembly and the Senate, and is now awaiting presidential assent.
5. Police Amendment Bill [link]: This Bill is ready to be presented. The President erroneously suggested it had lapsed at the end of the Ninth Parliament. It should be noted that, despite its title, the Bill will also amend the Private Voluntary Organisations Act and the Criminal Law Code.
6. Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Assets Amendment Bill [link]: This Bill too is due to begin its Committee Stage in the Assembly.
7. Public Service Amendment Bill [link]: The PLC issued an adverse report on this Bill, and the Assembly is due to debate the report.
8. State Service (Pensions) Bill [link]: This Bill was amended in Committee by the National Assembly and the amendments received an adverse report from the PLC. The Assembly is still to debate the report.
Other uncompleted Bills the President mentioned have not been presented in Parliament or published in the Gazette, so presumably they are still being drafted. They are:
1. Biological and Toxin Weapons Crimes Bill
2. Electronic Transactions and Electronic Commerce Bill
3. Legal Practitioners Amendment Bill
4. Rural Electrification Fund Amendment Bill
5. Standards Bill
6. Teaching Professions Council Bill.
The President failed to mention quite a number of Bills which have been published in the Gazette but have not yet been presented in Parliament, or which are currently going through Parliament:
1. Climate Change Management Bill [link]: This Bill is awaiting its Second Reading in the National Assembly.
2. Medical Services Amendment Bill [link]: This Bill was passed by the National Assembly with amendments (relating to the termination of pregnancy). It is now awaiting its Second Reading in the Senate.
3. National Drug and Substance Abuse Control and Enforcement Agency Bill [link]: This Bill has not been presented.
4. Postal and Telecommunications Amendment Bill [link]: This Bill too has not yet been presented.
5. Tourism Bill [link]: This Bill is due to be given its Second Reading in the Assembly.
6. Zimbabwe School Examinations Council Amendment Bill [link]: This Bill is awaiting its Committee Stage in the National Assembly.
One of the Bills the President mentioned as uncompleted, the Persons with Disabilities Bill, has in fact passed through Parliament and been published as Act number 3 of 2025 [link].
Altogether Parliament has a backlog of 20 Bills outstanding from the previous session. With only six Acts published so far this year, the President’s criticism of Parliament’s legislative record seems justified.
New Bills Announced
The President went on to announce many new Bills which he said would be placed before Parliament during the new session. He did not name all of them specifically, so some of the names in the following list represent what Veritas assumes will be the Bills’ short titles:
1. Commercial Premises (Lease Control) Amendment Bill, to create fairness in the commercial rental market
2. Competition Amendment Bill, to protect consumers
3. Defence Amendment Bill
4. Disaster Risk Management Bill, to replace the current Civil Protection Act
5. Foreign Affairs and International Trade Bill
6. Iron and Steel Industry Amendment Bill
7. Meteorological Services Amendment Bill.
8. National Heroes Amendment Bill
9. National Languages Bill
10. National Productivity Institute Bill, to drive increased productivity across all industries
11. Red Cross Amendment Bill
12. Research Amendment Bill, to establish a sustainable framework for funding research institutions
13. Sport, Leisure and Recreation Bill
14. Sports Integrity Bill
15. Sugar Production Control Amendment Bill
16. Veterans of the Liberation War Amendment Bill
17. War Victims Compensation Amendment Bill
18. Zimbabwe Media Commission Amendment Bill.
Further Legislation Mentioned
In addition to the Bills listed above, the President mentioned the following:
· He said Government was working on “a legislative framework” for the commercialisation of products emanating from innovation hubs.
· “A notable number of Bills”, he said, would be tabled from “our transport sector” – whatever that is.
· There would be Bills relating to devolution and decentralisation as well as local government.
He also said that the following Acts should be considered for amendment, though he did not go so far as to say that amending Bills would be ready for this Parliamentary session:
1. Censorship and Entertainments Control Act
2. Citizenship of Zimbabwe Act [This Act has not been aligned with the Constitution]
3. Lotteries and Gaming Act
4. National Archives of Zimbabwe Act
5. Official Secrets Act
6. Private Investigators and Security Guards (Control) Act.
7. Unlawful Organisations Act
Treaties for Ratification
The President ended his address by announcing that various treaties would be brought to Parliament for approval in terms of section 327(2) of the Constitution, which says that international treaties do not bind Zimbabwe until they have been approved by Parliament – i.e. the National Assembly and the Senate. The treaties he mentioned were:
· Arms Trade Treaty 2013 [link]
· Geneva Act of the Lisbon Agreement on Appellations of Origin and Geographical Indications 2015 [link]
· Hague Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Industrial Designs (1925) [link]
· Protocol Against the Illicit Manufacturing of and Trafficking in Firearms, Their Parts, Components and Ammunition [link]
· Protocol Against the Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Sea and Air (2000) [link]
· Protocol Amending the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Agreement 2005 [link]
· Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons 2017 [link]
Comments
The legislative agenda announced by the President is unrealistically ambitious, specifically listing more than 24 new Bills plus the 14 which are still going through Parliament – more than 38 in all. At Parliament’s current rate of enacting legislation – only six Acts were passed in 2025 and only seven in 2024 – it will take Parliament more than six years to get through all the Bills the President mentioned. In other words, the legislative agenda is a wish list rather than a statement of serious intent.
It is doubtful if even the President intended anyone to take the legislative agenda seriously. In most cases when he mentioned proposed Bills he gave their names only and did not describe their contents, leaving his audience to guess what they are expected to achieve – no easy task in relation to the Foreign Affairs and International Trade Bill, for example. All this suggests that responsible Ministries have not yet worked out what to put into many of their proposed Bills and that a great deal of hard work remains to be done before they are even sent to the Attorney-General’s Office for drafting, much less presented in Parliament.
One notable omission from the legislative agenda is a Constitution Amendment Bill to extend the President’s term of office. Such a Bill will be necessary if he is to stay in office beyond 2028, and there have been statements from government and ZANU-PF officials suggesting that the Bill has been drafted. No doubt Parliament will be informed in due course why the President omitted to mention the Bill.
