The Sunday Mail

Kuda Bwititi in Victoria Falls
The 2016 National Budget should be responsive to people’s wishes to promote socio-economic transformation, Vice-President Emmerson Mnangagwa has said.
Opening Parliament’s Pre-Budget Seminar here yesterday, Vice-President Mnangagwa said the Constitution prescribed public involvement in programme formulation.
The three-day event is themed “Growing the national cake for national economic development”.
The VP said: “I believe that this Parliament is an embodiment of what is possible when a nation takes a conscious decision to join hands for the common purpose of ensuring the economic and social progress of our people.
“This Pre-Budget Workshop must, therefore, set parameters for improving the quality of lives and living conditions of millions of our people.
“In carrying out the (oversight) mandate, we must always bear in mind that it is in the legislator that the oversight function of Parliament over the Executive is consistently exercised. Deriving from the above, it is through Parliament that we can influence policy and its implementation. This Pre-budget Seminar is one such opportunity and we must use it wisely, diligently and intelligently.”
He also said, “No democracy can thrive if the masses remain in poverty and without tangible prospects of a better life.
“The systematic challenges which continue to persist necessitate that we confront the fundamental structural and distributional inconsistencies that impact on poverty, inequality and unemployment.
“Growing the national cake entails that we align our structural and distributional channels to be fluid enough to enhance access in all its forms.
“Our ongoing task must be to accelerate progress, deepen democracy and translate political emancipation into economic inclusion and well being of our people. These immense challenges require legislative engineering on a broader level and on ongoing basis.” National Assembly Speaker Advocate Jacob Mudenda encouraged legislators to “provide innovative ideas and constructive engagement that would help grow the national cake”.
The 2016 National Budget, he said, must underpin Zim-Asset through implementation of its four clusters.
Further, Adv Mudenda said, Treasury should provide funding for Parliament’s activities, pointing out that portfolio and thematic committees were failing to conduct site visits and public consultations due to resource shortages.

Attacks on minister, judge’s houses

Sunday Mail Reporter
One person is understood to be in police custody in connection with what could be related attacks on premises belonging to Macro-economic Planning and Investment Promotion Minister Dr Obert Mpofu and a justice of the High Court early on Saturday morning.
Sources close to Dr Mpofu said two police details were injured and hospitalised due to the attacks, the first of which was at the minister’s premises in Newlands, Harare.
Police spokespersons were not reachable for comment last night.
Indications are several men, using BMW and Toyota Mark II vehicles, gained entry into Dr Mpofu’s premises after duping a police guard into allowing them in.
They assaulted the officer before allegedly proceeding to the High Court justice’s house, where they again assaulted a police detail stationed there.
Sources said a suspect was by last night in police custody and investigations were ongoing.