Zanu PF hails PVOs Bill

Source: Zanu PF hails PVOs Bill | The Herald

Zanu PF Secretary for Information and Publicity Cde Christopher Mutsvangwa (centre) addresses the media flanked by the party National Political Commissar Cde Mike Bimha (right) and director for information Cde Tafadzwa Mugwadi at Zanu PF Headquarters in Harare yesterday

Joseph Madzimure Senior Reporter

ZANU PF Secretary for Information and Publicity Cde Christopher Mutsvangwa has hailed the Private Voluntary Organisations Amendment Bill, saying it will help Zimbabwe protect its sovereignty and territorial integrity against NGOs that have been at the forefront of funding subversive activities.

The amendment Bill was gazetted in 2021 and will amend the Private Voluntary Organisations Act.

Among other things, the Bill seeks to regulate NGOs and bring about financial accountability and it seeks to monitor the funding and how funds are used in Zimbabwe. 

Some NGOs and some Western countries have unfairly criticised the Bill, saying it threatens their operations. Cde Mutsvangwa said Zanu PF supports the new Bill given that per square kilometre of land and per capita of population, no country has as many NGOs as Zimbabwe.

“The NGOs are supported in most instances by the budgets of Western countries. They are part of the foreign policy of those Western countries. Indeed, they are what we call agents of foreign influence on our land,” he said.

Zimbabwe witnessed the proliferation of anti-Government NGOs following the consummation of land reform from 2000. 

A group of NGOs have been at the forefront peddling falsehoods about Zimbabwe, with others paying some people to illegally demonstrate so as to provoke security agents, and once they have been dispersed, they start accusing the Government of disrespecting human rights.

And for their efforts, the NGOs then turn to their handlers in Europe or the United States seeking more funds.

Cde Mutsvangwa said foreign governments were sponsoring the NGOs because they have never come to terms with the fact that Zimbabwe won its independence in 1980 after a fierce liberation war.

“We have never been forgiven (by the Western government). That is why there are so many NGOs whose work is all bent on trying to undo what Zimbabweans did in 1980 and what we did on the land reform programme,” he said.

The regularisation of NGOs, he said, was meant to let them stick to their mandate and not foment violence by dabbling in local politics.

Cde Mutsvangwa said the Western-sponsored NGOs champion things which have nothing to do with the day-to-today production in Zimbabwe.

“They only focus on human rights, they focus on democracy. These things are not edible: they are intangible.

“They are only the yardstick of the Western countries. We can’t be told democracy by the West. For those who are going to be unemployed because their jobs are gone, the President is providing endless opportunities through Pfumvudza, through big investments, among others.

“The amended PVO Act is going to get rid of all abuse by the NGO sector so that we create genuine NGOs, which support the population of Zimbabwe not subverting the Government of Zimbabwe,” said Cde Mutsvangwa

Some NGOs recently tried to discredit the Second Republic’s engagement and re-engagement drive, and the ‘Zimbabwe is Open for Business’ policy by criticising investments from China.