The Sunday Mail
Debra Matabvu
LESS than a year before the centenary anniversary of the first sitting of the Rhodesian Legislative Assembly at the then Legislative Assembly Building in Salisbury (now Harare), Parliament of Zimbabwe is relocating to a new home.
On May 30, 1924, the Rhodesian legislature — then made up of just 30 all-white male members — sat for the first time inside the famous building that was initially a hotel.
That sitting marked the commencement of a parliamentary governance system in the country.
Before this, Rhodesia, a British colony, was ruled by a British governor.
Rhodesian governor Sir Humprey Gibbs addresses Parliament in 1965
However, in 1923, the country was granted responsible government status, which meant that it could govern itself internally.
The first elections for the Rhodesian parliament were held in 1924, and the parliament was inaugurated on May 30 the same year.
Records show that two Scottish settlers, who had emigrated into the country, acquired land to build a hotel where Parliament currently sits.
They named it Cecil Hotel after the adjacent Cecil Square (now Africa Unity Square).
They later sold the building to the British South Africa Company (BSAC), which converted it into an administrative centre and governed the colony from there.
It was only after granting of the responsible government status to the colony that the building was converted into the country’s seat of parliament.
Now, around seven months shy of that historic first sitting, Parliament, albeit of an independent Zimbabwe, is moving to a new home in Mt Hampden.
Ironically, historic records show that the Pioneer Column — the initial group of settlers sent to Zimbabwe by the BSAC in 1890 to colonise the country — intended to settle in Mt Hampden as the colony’s capital.
They later settled around what is present-day Harare.
In what is being touted as a historic development in the country’s quest to decolonise its governing institutions, nearly hundred years after the initial sitting of the colonial legislature, the seat of Parliament will later this month move away from Harare.
Observers see the relocation of Parliament to Mt Hampden as a symbolic, yet important, break from the country’s colonial past.
Parliament is moving to a multi-million-dollar state-of-the-art facility perched atop a hill in the picturesque farming area, where authorities plan to develop Zimbabwe’s new capital city.
On Tuesday, the 10th Parliament of Zimbabwe will convene its first session at the new facility, ahead of permanent relocation later this month.
In an interview with The Sunday Mail, Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affair Minister Ziyambi Ziyambi said: “We just requested the Chinese to use the premises for the official opening and State of the Nation address by President Mnangagwa (on Tuesday).
“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (and International Trade) and the Chinese Embassy are organising a handover ceremony — most likely in October — and thereafter, Parliament will move permanently to Mt Hampden.
“Once the handover is done, Parliament will move.”
Zimbabwe’s first Speaker of Parliament Mr Didymus Mutasa said relocation of the August House was long overdue.
He served as Speaker between 1980 and 1990.
“It is very significant that the country has its own infrastructure that is divorced from our erstwhile colonial masters,” he said.
“We inherited the Parliament building from the colonisers, so we basically inherited the set-up as well as their dressing . . . we basically replicated everything they did. During our first sessions after Independence, we did not know anything about Parliament business; we were only guided by the love of being able to represent our people.
“So the new building will now mean that we are slowly divorcing ourselves from our colonisers, and that is very important.”
Zimbabwe’s new Parliament building is located in Mt Hampden, about 20 kilometres west of Harare. It was designed by the Chinese company Shanghai Construction Group and built by a Chinese construction consortium.
The works began in November 2018 and were completed in April 2022.
The building cost nearly US$200 million to build, which was funded by a grant from the Chinese government.
It is six storeys high and can accommodate up to 650 legislators.
The building is equipped with state-of-the-art technology and is designed to be accessible to all Zimbabweans.
