Terrorism? Or a cover for control? The Flip Side delves into Zimbabwe's controversial law which could shape the country's democracy.

Harare

The Zimbabwean government has introduced the Private Voluntary Organisations Law (PVO law), which requires NGOs to disclose their funding sources and grants authorities the power to scrutinise ownership, track foreign funding, de-register organisations, and seize assets. Officials argue the law is necessary to combat terrorism financing and money laundering, though there has been no prosecution of NGO leaders for such crimes since independence.

The law has drawn criticism from civil society groups, who view it as draconian and a threat to freedoms of association and expression. International donors, including the European Union, have suspended funding in response, raising concerns about the impact on essential services, particularly in health. Analysts warn the law could be used to silence critics ahead of upcoming elections, while civil society groups consider legal and advocacy challenges to its constitutionality.

Zimbabwe: Can patriotism be legislated?

The Zimbabwean government says some civil society organisations could be used to sponsor terrorism and engage in money laundering schemes. To stop that, it has passed a new law requiring non-governmental organisations or NGOs to declare where their money comes from. But is there any proof? The phenomenon of illicit financial flows has been as a result of the work and activities of politically exposed persons. There has never been a single prosecution for illicit financial flows of any NGO leader, any member of the civil society since independence in 1980. The new law, known as the Private Voluntary Organisations Law or the PVO law, has sent shockwaves through Zimbabwe's civic sector. We are not going to register to a draconian piece of legislation because registering itself, it means that we are legitimising an unjust law. So are Zimbabwean NGOs involved in terrorism financing or is this about something else? Welcome to the Flipside. Last year, Zimbabwe took what they called a bold step to fight terrorism financing and money laundering. That resulted in the National Report on Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing. The report made several recommendations to the government. Now, under the new PVO law, the government has the power to, one, scrutinise who owns an NGO, two, track all foreign funding, three, de-register organisations, four, seize their assets and shut them down entirely. Already, the European Union has suspended its budget funding to Zimbabwe over this law, warning that it undermines freedoms of association and expression. So what does this mean for ordinary people? Recently, there has been, you know, some drastic measures that were done by the US President Donald Trump, which then announced the departure of USID and any American government funded programmes worldwide, in which our country was negatively impacted, in particular, in the health sector, where much of our funding was coming from USID. And now the announcement by the EU ambassador on their, you know, cancellation of the programmes on Zimbabwe is going to further cause devastating effects, you know, to our economy, to the development of the country, but more importantly, to the ordinary Zimbabweans. The law in its current form could be disastrous for civil society organisations. But is there still a way to find a common ground between government oversight and civil society freedom? What we would need would include a process of, you know, focusing on oversight and not on control. We need to have a situation where the financial regulatory framework focuses on very basic things like know your client, like having an anti-money laundering regime, which is supported by forms where, you know, institutions are able to get the beneficial owner, as well as the beneficial controller of financial transactions that are done through the financial system. Political opposition in Zimbabwe faces significant challenges. With elections due in three years, analysts are worried that this law is another step towards silencing critics. But the law has already been passed, so what can civil society do now? The first one, we are trying to look at the legal ways available to challenge the constitutionality of this piece of legislation so that we check if it's in tandem with our constitution. I know that it's not, and we are going to challenge its constitutionality. Secondly, we are also going to use other constitutionally available processes, you know, to challenge this act, if it means in terms of demonstrations, if it means in terms of other advocacy initiatives. But more importantly, we are not going to register to an unjust law. Still, others argue that the time for stopping this law has passed. It's a situation where the horse is boarded and you can no longer close the stable doors because the horse is now left. So I think we're in a situation of one, compliance with the law, and then two, long-term advocacy that may result in further amendments of the act. While the PVO could enhance national security and reduce crime, experts are worried that it could be instrumentalized to clamp down on civil society. And that's the flip side.

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