PVOs Bill will suffocate citizens

AS faith leaders drawn from member churches of the Zimbabwe Council of Churches (ZCC), we bemoan the gazetted Private Voluntary Organisations (PVOs) Bill which they said would shrink civic space at huge socio-economic costs to the ordinary citizens of the country.

We believe there will be no accountability on the part of the government, Zimbabwe will become more of an authoritarian State ... no democracy.

Poverty and inequalities will increase as most people in the country were benefiting in the areas of health and education from the CSOs.

Unemployment will keep rising. Some of the CSOs were creating employment for the citizens.

The voiceless will no longer be heard. CSOs provided platforms in which the voiceless were being heard in most areas of human life in the country.

We might lose confidence of the international community and remain in isolation as a country as most CSOs advocate for democracy.

In the absence of CSOs, human rights violations will increase as they will go unreported.

In the absence of non-governmental organisations (NGOs), no one will hold government accountable.

It will lead to puppet NGOs being registered, hence development assistance will be given on partisan lines.

This will reduce awareness on other issues such as gender-based violence since a lot of work around these areas is being done by CSOs.

Some politicians benefited from the work of CSOs during the liberation struggle. The same support will not be available for the current crop and emerging young politicians.

Banning CSOs is the same as burying people alive.

This Bill has polarised our people, with some vehemently supporting it because it is being championed by the party or government of their liking, others dismissing it because they have “heard” that it is bad.

We are a divided society politically and thus our positions do show in situations like these.

What’s clear, however, is that like the Constitutional Amendment Number 2, this is a political Bill.

Abuse of human rights will rise as the abuses will be unchecked.

We are a polarised society and without CSOs, it will be worse than what we are experiencing right now.

The economic challenges we are experiencing in the country surely need the support of NGOs hence we should not label them enemies of the State.

Without CSOs, the society will be too political and the Bill will strangle the democratic space.

After censoring PVOs, government will further drift away from observing the rights and freedoms of people and organisations.

There will be death of government accountability because the CSOs were acting as the watchdog on behalf of citizens.

If CSOs withdraw, the humanitarian crisis will deepen within the ailing economy, government is not prepared to cater for the humanitarian needs in the country.

The PVO Bill is giving government power to control and determine PVOs that will serve the interests of one party.

Human rights will be violated because no one will dare challenge government in the way CSOs are through educating citizens on their rights.

The cost of losing CSOs is a crisis of accountability. There will be no checks and balances and this works in favour of the government, at the expense of the citizens.

Losing CSOs means that people will be oppressed without anyone being a voice for the voiceless.

It means that it becomes a “hear no evil and see no evil” society. This will drive the country into a new form of oppression.

The Bill seeks to legalise attacks on those who do not agree with government or those who may be seen as opponents of government.

It limits the ability of citizens to access health, humanitarian, legal support offered by PVOs.