|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
Church leaders under the banner of the Zimbabwe Heads of Christian Denominations (ZHOCD) have expressed concern over some aspects of the proposed Private Voluntary Organization’s Amendment (PVO) Bill.
The ZHOCD made up of the Evangelical Fellowship of Zimbabwe (EFZ), Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops’ Conference (ZCBC), Zimbabwe Council of Churches (ZCC), and Union for Development of Apostolic and Zionist Churches in Zimbabwe (UDACIZA), said it had been following with keen interest the legislative developments in the country, with particular reference to the proposed Private Voluntary Organization’s Amendment (PVO) Bill.
Among its main objectives, the Bill seeks to comply with recommendations made by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), to streamline administrative procedures and allow for the efficient regulation and administration of PVOs, and to prevent PVOs from undertaking political lobbying.
The proposed PVO Bill is due for public consultations, through Public Hearings throughout the country, which may have been postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Significant conversations and engagements are already taking place throughout the country regarding the proposed Bill.
The ZHOCD said Zimbabwe should review its laws to meet international and regional obligations but reiterated that such review of laws should also happen in the spirit of safeguarding the interests of the citizens.
As the Church, ZHOCD, however, said it was concerned about some aspects of the proposed Bill.
“If the bill becomes law, it has the potential of complicating the charity and humanitarian services the Churches provide through their health, education Church and para-Church organizations that are currently registered as Trusts. Undue restrictions on the source of support may also expose vulnerable groups to extreme poverty as some of our funders are faithfully based overseas.
“Strict registration requirements of institutions mentioned above may disrupt the services the Church has been providing to meet the needs of vulnerable groups since time immemorial. The Church strongly believes that the centralization assumed in this proposed Bill reverses the spirit of devolution by ascribing too much authority to the Minister and the Registrar of PVOs,” ZHOCD said.
The Church is guided by the Church’s teachings on the principle of subsidiarity and believes that authority to run PVOs should actually be decentralized so that there is more participation of the PVOs in issues that affect their operations.
With regards to the FATF, the Church is of the view that the Government of Zimbabwe has other adequate instruments of compliance without interfering with the important services provided to its communities.
The potential negative impact of the proposed Bill comes at a time when ordinary citizens are experiencing limited quality service due to limited national Budget in social services such as Education and Health to which the Church has made a tremendous contribution through its service arms in support of the efforts of the Government
