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Farirai Machivenyika Senior Reporter
The Private Voluntary Organisation Amendment Bill passed its final reading in the National Assembly yesterday and will be transmitted to the Senate next Tuesday.
The Bill was passed after amendments arising from discussions between the Government and civil society organisations. The proposed law with criminalise any action by civil society organisations to support, oppose or fund political parties or candidates in elections and will lay down civil penalties for receiving or moving money outside the formal banking system.
After the Bill was introduced, there was criticism but many civil organisations while not opposing the ban on them being involved in partisan politics, and not opposed to maintaining decent accounts and using the banking system, were concerned over how this would work in practice, hence the meetings between the Government and civil society organisations to find common ground on the Bill.
Yesterday, Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ziyambi Ziyambi said the Bill was expected to be finalised before year end and be enacted fairly soon.
“The Bill has been passed by the National Assembly and will now be taken to the Senate next Tuesday. We expect that all parliamentary processes will be completed before the end of the year and then it will be transmitted to the President,” said Minister Ziyambi.
The Bill provides for an annual all-stakeholder meeting for non-government organisations and the Government to discuss issues of mutual interest, maintaining the discussion culture that helped generate the present form of the Bill.
Under clause 9B of the Bill; “Any Private Voluntary Organisation that supports or opposes any political party or candidate in a presidential, parliamentary or local government election, or is a party to any breach of Part III of the Political Parties (Finance) Act as a contributor of funds to a political party or candidate or otherwise, shall be guilty of an offence and liable to a fine of level twelve or to imprisonment for a period not exceeding one year, or both such fine or such imprisonment.”
The clause makes it clear that this does not apply to a PVO, which assists members of disadvantaged groups to become candidates for election to Parliament or any local authority, provided that such assistance is afforded in a strictly non-partisan manner.
Clause 11 provides additional amendments that allow for civil penalties on movement of money outside banking channels by civil society organisations.
This was to close certain loopholes in the general tightening of Zimbabwean financial regulations to ensure that everyone, including civil society, uses the banking system and maintains Zimbabwe’s established and growing reputation for defeating those who wish to launder money and is part of Zimbabwe’s commitment under international agreements to ensure there is no laundering and no way terror groups can be financed.
It reads as follows: “A registered private voluntary organisation shall be guilty of a civil default if there is well founded information available to the Registrar indicating that it has not used formal channels (that is to say registered banking institutions or other financial intermediaries regulated in Zimbabwe or in any other state) for the transmission of its funds at every point from source to destination.”
The Bill also requires the Registrar of PVOs to convene annual forums bringing together all stakeholders to discuss issues of mutual interest.
The Bill also compels anyone applying for the registration of a PVO to provide the Registrar with particulars of any beneficial ownership and of the persons who control the organisation to ensure transparency.
Clause 8 requires the responsible minister, at least once every five years and with the co-operation of the Reserve Bank’s Financial Intelligence Unit, to assess the vulnerability of PVOs and other similar organisations to being used for terrorist financing and money laundering.
The Bill allows authorities to enter into agreements with the government of any other country or to render reciprocal assistance in a number of areas such as registration of PVOs, exchange of information on PVOs, among other issues.
In particular, agreements will allow the registrar of PVOs or the Financial Intelligence Unit of the Reserve Bank to seek details of beneficial ownership or other information in respect of any company from the foreign counterpart, and in return provide details of beneficial ownership or other information in respect of any company to the foreign authority.
This again is part of modern global efforts to clamp down on criminal and terrorist organisations trying to launder money.
Online Reporter