PVO Bill runs against international standards

Source: PVO Bill runs against international standards -Newsday Zimbabwe

Parliament of Zimbabwe

THE Private Voluntary Organisations (PVOs) Amendment Bill has been criticised as running against regional and international principles governing the holding of democratic elections.

This came out during a community dialogue meeting held in Gweru, Midlands where the PVO Amendment Bill and its possible effects as the country moves towards 2023 elections came under discussion.

Presenting at the meeting Midlands State University (MSU) governance lecturer Kudzai Matsika said: “The PVO Bill amendments will contravene multiple continental and regional conventions that seek to uphold election integrity including the Southern African Development Community (Sadc) principles and guidelines governing democratic elections.

“Civil society organisations (CSOs) play a crucial role in elections by educating voters, enabling citizen registration, monitoring the conduct of the process and observing the election itself with an eye on identifying irregularities.”

The Sadc Principles and Guidelines Governing Democratic Elections provide a set of standards to judge whether a particular country has conducted elections that are free and fair.

They reflect universally accepted standards contained in various regional and international instruments such as the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights and the human rights documents of the United Nations.

They also provide guidelines for observation of elections to ensure that the standards are met.

“There’s a need to advocate or lobby the African Union and the regional power broker South Africa to press Zimbabwean leaders to forgo these unnecessary amendments to the PVO Bill,” Matsika said.

Opposition legislators and human rights activists have criticised the Bill as flawed.

Zanu PF has defended the Bill as necessary to whip NGOs and CSOs into line, accusing them of pushing a regime change agenda.