BY
NewZimbabwe.com
The
controversial
bill
was
read
for
the
third
time
after
it
was
reported
without
amendments.
The
bill
had
been returned
to
the
National
Assembly
by
the
Senate
a
fortnight
ago
for
amendments.
This
is
the
second
time
the
Senate
has
passed
the
controversial
bill
as
it
awaits
President
Emmerson
Mnangagwa’s
approval
into
law.
In
September
2023,
President
Mnangagwa
declined
to
sign
the
PVO
Amendment
Bill
into
law,
sending
it
back
to
Parliament
for
reconsideration.
The
Senate
passed
the
bill
on
February
1,
2023,
before
Mnangagwa’s
disapproval
sending
it
back
to
Parliament.
Acting
Senate
President,
Mashonaland
Central
Province
Senator
Eleven
Kambizi,
after
the
PVO
bill
went
through
today
(Thursday)
said
“It
will
clean
up
a
lot
of
issues
that
were
happening
within
our
charity
organisations
and
it
is
a
historic
day.”
Justice
minister
Ziyambi
Ziyambi
said,
“l
want
to
thank
the
Hon.
Senators
for
this
day
that
the
Lord
has
made,
whereupon
our
Parliament
has
passed
the
Private
Voluntary
Organisations
Amendment
Bill
[H.B.
2A,
2024].”
Before
the
passing
of
the
PVO
Bill,
Ziyambi
had
told
the
Senate
that
the
Bill
before
them
was
a
very
necessary
measure
to
improve
the
administration,
accountability,
and
transparency
of
charities
in
the
country.
“The
legal
word
for
charity
in
our
country
is
Private
Voluntary
Organisation
(PVO),
under
our
law
every
charity
that
uses money
collected
from
the
public
or
donated
from
a
foreign
government
or
foreign
agencies
is
required
to
be
registered
as
a
PVO,
in
terms
of
the
PVO
Act
which
the
Bill
before
you
seeks
to
amend.
“As
the
government,
we
are
also
aware
that
some
so-called
charities
act
in
a
partisan
manner
by
directing
money
to
favoured
political
parties
or
candidates
at
the
expense
of
other
political
parties
or
candidates.
“Partisan
assistance
using
foreign
money
or
money
collected
from
the
public
under
the
guise
of
charity must
never
be
allowed
to
influence
the
outcome
of
national
or
local elections.
In
many
developed
countries,
this
kind
of
behaviour
is
understood
to
be
harmful
to
the
very
idea
of
charity,”
said
Ziyambi.
Ziyambi
said
that
in
the
United
States,
for
example,
one
cannot
register
any
organisation
as
a
non-profit
organisation
for
tax
purposes
if
that
organisation
campaigns
or
canvasses
for
any
political
candidate
or
party.
“It
is
in
this
context
that
this
Bill
seeks
to
clean
up
the
space
within
which
PVOs
may
operate.”
The
minister
highlighted
that
sometime
now,
the
government
had
noticed,
that
the
so-called
charities
(some)
had
completely
bypassed
the
Private
Voluntary
Organisations
Act
by
forming
“trusts”
sanctioned
by
the
Registrar
of
Deeds,
Companies
and
Intellectual
Property.
However,
the
Bill
met
some
resistance
from
different
sectors
including
CSOs.
“When
the
PVO
Amendment
Bill
was
gazetted
on
November
5,
2021,
it
attracted
widespread
national,
regional
and
international
condemnation
for
purporting
to
address
the
risk
of
money
laundering
and
countering
the
financing
of
terrorism,
albeit
without
adhering
to
the
standards
of
the
Financial
Action
Task
Force
(FATF)
of,
among
others,
using
a
proportionate
risk-based
approach
to
identify,
assess
and
address
any
money
laundering
and
terrorist
financing
risks
in
the
non-profit
sector,
in
consultation
with
CSOs,”
part
of
an
Amnesty
International
statement
read
then.