regulation

Minister of Labour and Home Affairs, Edwin Batshu, has called upon the non-governmental organisation (NGO) Council to adhere to its guiding principles for it to be effective.

Speaking at the National Fund for Civil Society Validation meeting in Gaborone, Minister Batshu, says the NGO Council Policy called for effective participation of all members.

The minister further says the policy also called for an independent NGO, one which did not rely on government for support.

The SABC has until 21 June to provide the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) with reasons it was correct to ban footage of violent protests from television screens.

ICASA’ complaints and compliance committee ruled that the matter is urgent, after lobby group Media Monitoring Africa complained to the statutory institution that the SABC’s decision was in conflict with the public broadcaster’s duties as outlined in the Broadcasting Act, and the Constitution.

Lilongwe-based non-governmental organisations (NGOs) have teamed up to challenge the policy formulation process which NGO Board of Malawi is undertaking.

Some of the NGOs and their executive directors appearing on the list of signatories include; Timothy Mtambo of CHRR, Gift Trapence of CEDEP, Amon Lukhele of OSF, Peter John of SYAMA, Rev MacDonald Sembereka, and Richard Yohane of RISE.

The NGO Board of Malawi which was established under the NGO Board Act will soon have an act which will be guiding activities of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in Malawi.

Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Gender, Children, disability and social welfare (MoGDCSW) who is also chairperson of the Steering committee on the formulation of the policy, Dr Mary Shaba, has confirmed about the consultation process on the NGO Policy.

Zambia’s Minister of Community Development and Social Services, Emerine Kabanshi, says government is revising the Non-Governmental Organisations (NGO) Act No 15 of 2009 in order to enhance Civil Society Organisations’ (CSOs) participation in service delivery.
 
Kabanshi says CSOs play a critical role in fostering economic development in the country as well as uplifting the living standards of the less-privileged people in society.
 

From 1993 to 2012, 39 of the world’s 153 low and middle-income countries enacted restrictive laws on foreign funding to civil society organisations, both domestic and international.

In some cases, these governments banned overseas funding for local actors outright, while in other instances, they imposed new rules restricting which locally-operating non-governmental organisations could receive aid, and for what purpose.

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has signed a controversial bill that seeks to regulate non-governmental organisations in his country.

Adrian Jjuuko, a Ugandan human rights lawyer, wrote on his Twitter page last month that Museveni signed the Non-Governmental Organisations Act of 2015 on 30 January 2016.

In a similar vein, Frank Mugisha, executive director of Sexual Minorities Uganda, a Ugandan lesbian, gay, bi-sexual and transgender advocacy group, warned that, “This law will make my work very difficult and outlaw the organisation I work for.

According to a senior official of a regulatory board, millions of dollars sent to various non-governmental organisations in Kenya by donors cannot be accounted for.
 
NGO Coordination Board, executive director, Fazul Mohammed Yusuf, says the money, in excess of 23.6 billion Kenyan shillings (about US$224 391 450), could not be accounted for in the 2014 financial year.
 
Yusuf says they are also pursuing some organisations suspected to be financing acts of terrorism.