Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ziyambi Ziyambi this Wednesday met members of civil society organisations to discuss the Private Voluntary Organisations Amendment Bill that is currently before Parliament.

The Bill was crafted to address governance issues of CSOs, including preventing them from being used as conduits to finance terrorism and other illicit activities as well as penalise those that stray from their mandates to dabble in politics.

The initial amendments were instituted following recommendations from the Financial Action Taskforce, an inter-governmental organisation meant to curb money laundering, terrorism financing and other illicit financial flows.

Speaking in an interview after the meeting, Minister Ziyambi said regulation of CSOs is not unique to Zimbabwe.

"The majority of countries have an Act that deals with the regulation of the NGO sector, we are not the only ones. We also do it to protect individuals that donate to charitable organisations. It is something that is done in most jurisdictions.

"I am absolutely happy with the deliberations we had today. It was robust and we managed to learn a few things and we are going to amend the Bill because we have noticed that there are inconsistent issues. I believe that the interaction allowed the NGO sector to appreciate where the Government is coming from. I believe that when they go back they will understand that the Bill is not about punishing the NGO sector but just a regulatory framework to do their work freely and without any hinderances," Minister Ziyambi said.