'Mugabe will never be grilled in parliament'

President Robert Mugabe is not obliged to appear before parliament and respond to questions from lawmakers, leader of government business in parliament, Emmerson Mnangagwa has said.

Responding to a question from MDC-T senator for Bulawayo, Agnes Sibanda, who had asked if it was possible for Mugabe to appear before parly and respond to questions from legislators, Mnangagwa on Thursday  said  the president could only appear in parliament when officially opening the session of the lawmaking house and when he "feels like delivering" the state of the nation address.

"This issue of you wanting to grill him here, we have removed that from the Constitution, you have to grill these ministers and do so, vaumburudzei ivava ma (grill the) ministers, they represent him and have answers," he said.

Sibanda had told Mnangagwa that  Mugabe should appear in parliament and take questions from the MPs.

"There are two instances that the president can come to parliament, first it is when officially opening parliament and when he feels like delivering the state of the nation address on the state of the economy and or when he has something extra-ordinary that he wants to inform the house," Mnangagwa told the senate.

In other countries like South Africa, it is mandatory for the president to appear in parliament and deliver the state of the nation address before taking responses from MPs on the address made.

The president also appears in the house and takes questions on policy from the MPs, but according to Mnangagwa, here it is not done.

In Zimbabwe, the last time Mugabe delivered his state of the nation address was before the formation of the inclusive government (thus before 2008).

In the same senate, Health minister David Parirenyatwa warned church leaders to stop misleading people that they could heal HIV/Aids and discouraging them from taking anti-retroviral drugs.

Parirenyatwa said it was immoral for prophets to claim  they could heal the pandemic which has been declared by international health expects to be  incurable, saying police will soon pounce on them and make arrests.

"It is wrong for our prophets to do that," he said.

In the national assembly, the parliamentary portfolio committee on water, tourism and hospitality industry chaired by Anastancia Ndhlovu, tabled its first report on waste management by funeral parlours.

The report which was arrived at after receiving oral evidence from parlour management, visiting funeral parlours and undergoing a workshop, said the water and fluids used on corpses were properly disposed of.

The investigations by the committee followed media reports that funeral parlours were polluting water sources by disposing of waste into the main water systems.

"Based on the observations and findings from the visits that the committee made, no disposal of pollutants in the water bodies that form sources of drinking water for residents was witnessed," said Ndhlovu in her report seconded by MDC-T MP, Concilia Chinanzvavana.