dyton mupawaenda
Farirai Machivenyika –Senior Reporter
PRESIDENT Mnangagwa has assented to the Private Voluntary Organisations Amendment Bill which becomes law.
The new Act was published in the Government Gazette yesterday by the Chief Secretary to the President and Cabinet, Dr Martin Rushwaya, under General Notice 620 of 2025.
“The following law, which was assented to by His Excellency the President, is published in terms of subsection 6 (a) of section 131 of the PVO Amendment Act (No.1) of 2025,” Dr Rushwaya said.
The new law will ensure the country complies with the recommendations of the Financial Action Taskforce to prevent the abuse of charities for the financing of criminal and terrorist activities.
It will also streamline the administration, accountability and transparency of charity organisations and provide a more detailed definition and interpretation of terms used in the principal Act.
The Act provides for the inclusion of the definition of “funds or other assets”, which is very wide-ranging, to include all financial assets and funds or other assets of any kind.
It also amended the definition of “Private Voluntary Organisation” to ensure it covers all relevant organisations that fall under this law, even when the coverage is confined to ensuring an entity is not being used to launder terrorist funds.
“In view of the international dimension of terrorist and proliferation financing through the abuse of charities, a definition for Financial Intelligence Unit of the Reserve Bank is necessary because of the role the unit will play in assisting the Registrar of Private Voluntary Organisations in that regard,” reads the preamble of the Act.
“The definition of private voluntary organisation excludes from the scope of that term certain activities, for example, fundraising for schools or hospitals by or on behalf of the schools or hospitals concerned. However, even excluded activities may come within the scope of monitoring against money laundering if the activities are carried on by any high-risk entity.”
Clause Six repeals the existing section of the principal Act requiring the registration of a PVO and replaces it with a more comprehensive provision that brings within the scope of registration certain trusts that were previously excluded from registration.
It requires organisations not previously within the scope of the PVO Act to now register as PVOs, but in these cases, time will be given for compliance.
This means those organisations not registered as trusts, but which receive external funding to pursue objects of a charitable nature, such organisations will be afforded a reasonable period to comply with the Act.
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