HUMAN rights campaigner Farai Maguwu has petitioned Speaker of National Assembly, Jacob Mudenda, to reconvene public hearings on the Private Voluntary Organisations (PVOs) Amendment Bill after the meetings were disrupted by suspected Zanu PF activists.
The public hearings on the PVOs Amendment Bill were held from May 13 to 17 countrywide to solicit the input of the public and other stakeholders on the controversial draft piece of legislation.
The Bill seeks to regulate the operations of civic society organisations.
The hearings, which were conducted by the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare were, however, disrupted by suspected Zanu PF activists in Gweru, Harare, Masvingo, Marondera and Chinhoyi.
In a letter addressed to Mudenda on Thursday last week, Muguwu through the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR), said the hearings needed to be reconvened.
He is being represented by ZLHR lawyers Tinashe Chinopfukutwa and Kelvin Kabaya.
Maguwu, who is also the Centre for Natural Resource Governance director, said he was prevented from making contributions to the Bill when the public hearing in Harare was aborted.
“Our client is, therefore, of the considered view that the disrupted public hearings do not meet the threshold of public hearings and consultations envisaged by the Constitution,” the lawyers said.
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“Upon receipt of this letter, you hold in abeyance any further parliamentary processes relating to the PVOs Bill, including but not limited to the second and third reading stages. Parliament through its relevant committees, relating to the PVOs Bill reconvenes the public hearings.
“Parliament takes all measures, including but not limited to the provision of heightened security at the reconvened public hearings in terms of paragraph c. above, to ensure that the public can effectively, reasonably and adequately express their views on the provisions of the PVOs Bill,” Maguwu said.
According to Maguwu, ruling party activists who disrupted the public hearing in the capital were visibly drunk.
“The group was jeering, singing and disrupting the proceedings such that our client and other members of the public who attended the meeting could not participate and give their contributions in the meeting,” his lawyers submitted.
“The situation quickly escalated and degenerated to such an extent that the portfolio committee members fled from the venue, resultantly, the meeting ended abruptly before any public views could be solicited and recorded.
“Crucially, our client and other members of the public were effectively prevented from participating in the public hearing. So extreme was the disruption that the police had to be called.”
Maguwu said ordinary Zimbabweans like himself and other stakeholders needed to be heard through the reconvening of the hearings.
He cited section 67(1)(d) of the Constitution, which confers the right to individuals to participate in gatherings or in any other manner in order to influence government policies.
“Our client considers that the disrupted hearings were not conducted in such circumstances as to afford members of the public attending these hearings an opportunity to reasonably and adequately express their views on the provisions of the PVOs Bill,” he said.
Civic society groups have condemned the Bill saying it undermines freedoms of expression and association and gives the government unjustifiable control over their operations.
The Bill allows the state to interfere with civil society organisations’ governance and activities.
Penalties for breaching provisions of the Bill range from heavy fines to imprisonment.
President Emmerson Mnangagwa referred the Bill back to Parliament during the 9th Parliament for reconsideration.
