Mnangagwa used PVO Bill to silence NGOs ahead of elections- Crisis Coalition
By Staff Writer
THE Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition (CiZC) has accused President Emmerson Mnangagwa of using the Private Voluntary Organisation (PVO) Bill to silence NGOs in the run up to elections.
Popularly known as the PVO Bill, the legal instrument has attracted widespread criticism within and beyond the country’s borders as yet another legal instrument poised to muzzle the democratic space in the country due to controversial sections which place NGOs under strict supervision by the government.
Even highly democratic and tolerant Organisations like the United Nations could not remain mum instead adding a voice in criticizing the instrument.
In an update this week CiZC spokesperson, Orbert Masaraure told a local private daily newspaper that the legal piece was just a ploy to threaten the CSOs.
“Mnangagwa achieved his objectives by threatening to sign the PVOs Bill into law. NGOs were already adhering to the PVOs Bill before it was enacted into law,” said Masaraure.
“Mnangagwa wanted to make sure that the CSOs were not going to have much of a say in the last election because people were scared that they would be deregistered.
“Now that he has secured his position as President, there is no need to rush into signing the Bill into law now; he is now looking at other issues, especially the economy.”
He said civil society organisations understood that there was a large portion of the economy which was benefiting from donations while most foreign currency was coming from that sector.
Legal think-tank, Veritas has since described the PVOs Amendment Bill should be discarded because it was vague and badly drafted.
“The Bill was a most unsatisfactory one: vague, badly drafted and in many respects unconstitutional. The President himself had such serious reservations about it that he referred it back to Parliament. The new minister should take the opportunity to reconsider it completely, perhaps even to scrap it,” Veritas said.
Other legislative pieces like the Patriotic Act and the Labour Act have also been criticised for failing the litmus test of strengthening democracy in the country.
