By Beverly Bizeki
The long-awaited Private Voluntary Organisations (PVO) bill hearing proceedings in Masvingo had to be abandoned a few minutes into the program after tempers flared at Charles Austin Theatre on May 16, 2024.
With the theatre packed to the brim, residents who had not made it inside the venue pleaded with the committee for a bigger venue that would accommodate more people while standing at the door and this sparked an exchange with other attendants who were inside.
The clashes seemed to have been between those who were opposing the bill, the PVOs and opposition, and those who were in support of it mainly the ruling party aligned with the latter accusing the former of interrupting the meeting and the exchange of insults degenerated into fist fights.
The matter became chaotic after parliamentarian Robson Mavhenyengwa asked what people were doing at the entrance saying they were writing names.
That is when some attendees shouted that the venue was too small and they needed a bigger one so that they could all get in and participate.
Those who were inside started shouting and advanced towards the entrance where they then clashed with those who were at the entrance.
One resident, Struggle Nyahunda blamed the meeting chair for failing to control the flow.
“From my observation, the chairperson who was running the hearing did not handle the meeting well because he was suspecting that there were organizations writing people’s names at the door whereas they were parliament staff circulating registers.
“A group of people from another angle came and started to make noise until people vacated the hall. The bill was not successful considering how it lasted only about 10 minutes and only eight out of about 500 contributed,” said Nyahunda.
Another attendant Duncan Mpaso said the noise was caused by a group of people whom he thought were those who always oppose government and said he had noted that these were people who wanted partial transparency.
“I came with the hope to air my views on the bill hearing as a resident of Masvingo and as a citizen of Zimbabwe. I am one of the people who came early with the hope of contributing but people who oppose the government came in late while we were already in the meeting came and started the noise interrupting those who were contributing.
“From my observation, those from opposing parties are the same people who want transparency and good governance and are against corruption but what I have seen from their rejecting this bill shows they are people who are against all these things when facing the Zimbabwean government,” said Mpaso.
The bill hearing has been chaotic in all provinces and had to be stopped midway following clashes.
