By BustopTV
The move to amend the Private Voluntary Organisations Bill was ‘ill-advised’ and vividly highlights how President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s administration disregards constitutional rights, Civil Society Organisations president Paddington Japajapa has said.
Mnangagwa on November 5 2021 gazetted the PVO Amendment Bill despite outcries from non-governmental organisations and civil society organisations in the country that fear their operations will be over regulated.
The PVO Amendment Bill has also attracted rebuke from the United Nations who said it will gravely impact civic space.
There is concern that if signed into law, the bill will be used to quash human rights after doing away with organisations that play a watchdog role in Zimbabwe.
Japajapa who leads a civil society organisation, Zimbabwe Centre for Equal Opportunities, expressed concern over the bill and urged the government to stop interfering with voluntary organisations’ operations.
Speaking to Bustop TV he said: “Government must stop interference with PVOs and CSOs; they must be allowed to operate voluntarily without being regulated. The ZANU PF regime must stop throwing spanners into the operations of PVOs and CSOs, its only in Zimbabwe were functions of PVOs and CSOs are regulated.
“We are ferociously lobbying the Government not to go ahead with their ill advised undemocratic process of tempering with legislation that regulates PVOs and CSOs, government must not have anything to do with how PVOs operate that’s why they are called voluntary organisations.”
He added that passing the bill into law will show that the government does not respect constitutional Provisions and the Bill of Rights.
“Signing of the Bill into Law shall heavily affect all CSOs who operate under the Private and Voluntary Organisations Act, the results shall be disastrous to millions of poor Zimbabweans who were benefiting through aid channeled through some of the CSOs.”
This article was produced with financial support of the Content Creators Network ZW.
