Resist, Reject and Report Violence, #RRRV2023
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Major Highlights
On 2 March visiting United States deputy secretary in the Bureau of African Affairs, Robert Scott had wideranging meetings with government, the opposition and civil society and some of the issues he raised in these
meetings, was the controversial Private Voluntary Organisations (PVO) Amendment Bill, widely viewed as
meant to close democratic space even further ahead of the August polls. He told journalists after a meeting
with Foreign Affairs Minister Frederick Shava that the issue of the PVO Amendment Bill had been discussed
during the meeting together with the need for peaceful elections among other electoral issues. The PVO
Amendment Bill will clamp down on fundamental freedoms and give government powers to register or
deregister civil society organisations perceived to be anti-government. Advocacy around the PVO Bill was
revived after the Zimbabwe Arrears Clearance and Debt Resolution Forum in February 2023.
Among other platforms representatives of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) engaged President Emmerson
Mnangagwa with concerns they had on the PVO Bill that had sailed through the legislature and awaiting his
signing it into law. The Bill is currently undergoing proofreading at the Attorney-General’s (AG) office after
Parliament passed it.
Bulawayo councillors resolved to launch a crackdown on President Mnangagwa's shadowy group operating
illegally in the second-largest city under the name Vendors for ED. The group has been resisting enforcement
of by-laws to restore order in the central business district's (CBD) 5th Avenue where it has established its
operation. Last month on 23 February, municipal police battled to clear vendors off the streets. the vendors
later converged at the City Hall in large numbers where they were addressed by Zanu PF's Bulawayo Nehanda
district chairperson Josiah Mutangi. In his address, he told the vendors to defy police and council officers.
The Vendors for ED group has been on a collision course with Bulawayo City Council after it violated city bylaws by establishing unsanctioned vending bays in the central business district with the full backing of Zanu
PF stalwarts.
MARCH 2023
The Zimbabwe Peace Project Monthly Monitoring Report
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