The committee member of National Non-governmental Organizations, Thomas Mbetu says the Private Voluntary Organisations Bill will deter the operations of Non-governmental Organizations in the country as ‘it gives too much power to the government’.
Mbetu says the bill gives the responsible minister the leverage to de-register or curtail the works of the civic society.
“From our observations we noted that the bill has more negatives than positives,”said Mbetu.
“We are concerned that the bill gives the minister the right to de-register or stop the operations of Ngos.If the bill is passed it will shrink the operating space of the civil society in the country,”he said.
Information Minister, Monica Mutsvangwa said the amendments to the Act seek to combat money laundering and financing of terrorism by any individual or institution in Zimbabwe operating under the Private Voluntary Organisations banner.
“The amendments also seek to streamline the administrative procedures for Private Voluntary Organisations in order to ensure their efficient registration, regulation and the combating of the financing of terrorism,” said Mutsvangwa.
“The Registrar of PVOs is also being accorded powers to penalize non-compliant organizations. The PVO Amendment Bill was necessitated by growing regional and global concerns about money laundering and the financing of terrorist activities. It is now known that terrorist activities can be committed using seemingly authentic transactions, either as humanitarian aid or as development assistance.”
