ED sends PVOs Bill back to Parly
MOSES MATENGA
President Emmerson Mnangagwa (pictured) has sent back the Private Voluntary Organisations Amendment Bill back to Parliament with “reservations” in a move that will lead to gazetting of a revised version that takes into account areas he flagged.
The PVOs Amendment Bill had brought discomfort in the civic society space amid fears the government was silencing critics through the new proposed law.
Critics of the bill had estimated that the government was set to lose close to a billion United States dollars in development funding this year, a move that has consequences for the already troubled economy.,
The Bill seeks to give the government more power to regulate activities of Non-Governmental Organisations and Trusts.
The Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Tsitsi Gezi, confirmed Mnangagwa has sent back the Private Voluntary Organisations Amendment Bill with reservations.
In the last Parliamentary term, the Bill had gone through various stages of the Legislative processes and was only awaiting Presidential assent. The law, experts say, is expected to sanitise the NGO sector and ensure they focus on core business without dabbling in politics.
“I wish to inform the House that on 31st August, 2023, I received the Private Voluntary Organisations Amendment Bill [H.B. 10, 2021] from His Excellency, the President of Zimbabwe with reservations. In terms of Section 147 of the Constitution of Zimbabwe, the Bill lapsed on the dissolution of the Ninth Parliament,” she said.
“I have therefore directed the Minister of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare to gazette a revised version of the Bill taking into account the reservations noted by His Excellency the President. The Bill will therefore follow the normal stages of a Bill in Parliament.”
The Bill had divided the country along political lines with the opposition saying it was a move by the Mnangagwa government to silence critics while Zanu PF insisted it was a good move to ensure NGOs do not dabble into politics.
Debating in the Senate last week, a Zanu PF Senator said: “During the recent elections, we witnessed some of the activities of certain NGOs and PVOs. As a country, we cannot accommodate those actions of theirs which are bent on sowing seeds of disunity within our country. They need to be regulated. We remain strongly anchored as a country to the values and ethos of the liberation struggle and we cannot just allow outsiders to come through the back door using PVOs.”
