Bulawayo residents who travelled from different parts of the city to attend a public hearing on the Whistleblowers and Witness Protection Bill were left frustrated after Parliament cancelled the 9am meeting at the Small City Hall at the last minute.
Residents who had gathered at the venue on Friday were instead told to attend another public hearing scheduled for Lobengula Hall at 2pm.
Friday was the final day of the nationwide public hearings on the Bill.
The public hearing, organised by the Portfolio Committee on Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs jointly with the Executive of the African Parliamentarians Network Against Corruption, was meant to give residents an opportunity to make submissions on the Whistleblowers and Witness Protection Bill (H.B. 4, 2026).
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The Bill seeks to protect people who expose corruption, fraud, misuse of public funds and other serious wrongdoing, as well as witnesses who assist police, prosecutors or courts and may face threats because of their evidence.
However, residents who arrived at the Small City Hall were told the hearing had been cancelled due to what Parliament described as “administrative glitches”.
The parliamentary team leader, Malinganiso Taurai Dexter, the MP for Zvimba South, apologised to residents and urged them to attend another scheduled hearing at Lobengula Hall.
“We are here to hear your views on the Whistleblowers and Witness Protection Bill but unfortunately, due to administrative glitches, we could not access the venue, so we ask the public if they may join us at Lobengula Hall at 2pm,” said the parliamentary team leader.
Dexter said residents who could not attend the afternoon hearing could submit their views electronically through Parliament.
“For those that may not get there, they may please forward their views at clerk@parlzim.gov.zw,” he said.
He said the Bulawayo cancellation was the first such incident during the nationwide consultations.
“This was the first for Bulawayo to be cancelled. We have done a number of hearings in Mashonaland West, Midlands, Matabeleland North and Matabeleland South. We were doing two per province,” Dexter said.
However residents said the last-minute cancellation had left them frustrated, particularly after spending money on transport to travel to the city centre.
One resident said she was confused by claims many people had already attended the consultation, insisting that she had not attended any previous hearing.
“We are saddened that we are being told many people have attended the public hearing, but we never attended any consultation. We don’t understand because we are being told that many people attended, yet we never attended. That is why we are here,” she said.
“We are not even many here, as they are saying many people attended. We don’t understand why it has been cancelled.”
She said residents would now have to incur additional transport costs to attend the afternoon hearing in Lobengula.
“We boarded kombis to come here to town and now we have to go back home. The MPs are telling us we have to go to Lobengula. It’s another trip that will cost us more money. We have to board twice to the Lobengula venue. We are not happy at all. It’s not right.”
Residents said they had intended to use the hearing to raise concerns about the dangers they face when reporting wrongdoing to authorities, particularly when their identities are disclosed.
“We wanted to contribute to the Bill on the abuses happening in our communities. You find that you report but end up not being safe,” the resident said.
“A neighbour could be dealing in drugs and, when you report to the police, they reveal to them that their neighbour said this. So it becomes hard for us to report because you will be endangering your life. You fear being killed.”
Another resident, identified as Ndebele, said the last-minute cancellation could discourage people from participating in future parliamentary consultations.
“We were not treated well because we were hoping to participate in the hearings, but they are telling us that the venue wasn’t properly planned. They should have notified us in time rather than telling us at the last minute,” she said.
“This will affect us even if they call us next time because we will think we will face the same experience.”
Another resident, identified as S Moyo, said the cancellation was unfair, particularly because the hearing had been publicly advertised and residents had made arrangements to attend.
“It’s unfair. This was published and we left our duties to come here and voice our wishes and what we want to see. As women, we also want to be protected,” she said.
“They did the hearings in other places, and now when it comes to Bulawayo, they are saying it’s cancelled. They are not even giving us solid reasons; they are just saying ‘administrative glitches’.”
Moyo said moving the hearing to Lobengula would impose additional transport costs on residents and could exclude those unable to afford another trip.
“If they knew that it was going to be cancelled, they should have told us before and we wouldn’t have come here, because now I have wasted my money coming from Nkulumane,” she said.
“Now they are telling us to go to Lobengula, which is another cost. What about those who cannot manage to go there? It means their opinions and wishes, and what they wanted to say, won’t be heard, which is very unfair. What they did is abuse.”
Khethiwe Tshuma added the cancellation risked undermining public confidence in parliamentary consultations.
“People travelled from different places to come and bring in their views and unfortunately, there is no other reason they are giving us. They are only telling us that there are administrative glitches, which we don’t know exactly what they are,” she said.
“This will diminish people’s spirit because, at the end of the day, we were ready to submit our views. From the way it looks, we are not going to progress as a country if we have such instances where a whole parliamentary portfolio comes for a public hearing and, out of nowhere and without any notification, decides to ditch the people at the last minute. They had the whole time to sort out their administrative glitches.”
Tshuma said residents were uncertain whether people would be able to attend the alternative hearing scheduled for the afternoon.
“As residents, we feel we haven’t been treated fairly. We hope people will attend in Lobengula in the afternoon, but there is no guarantee that people will attend,” she said.
“Most people were coming to this central place in town, so we don’t know. We will try to attend the afternoon session, but we are not happy as residents.”
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