On 26 August 2026, the National Association of Non-Governmental Organisations (NANGO), in collaboration with COSPE Zimbabwe, convened a PVO Regulations Sensitisation Workshop in Harare under its Talk to Your Regulator initiative. The meeting enabled civil society organisations to engage directly with Acting PVO Registrar Tirivavi Totamirepi and the Financial Intelligence Unit on implementation of the PVO Amendment Act and Statutory Instruments 97 and 98 of 2026. The Registrar explained that SI 97 provides greater flexibility in organisational constitutions, reduces the minimum executive committee size from seven to five and allows further regulatory amendments where implementation difficulties arise. The FIU explained that SI 98 requires focused, proportionate and risk-based supervision: education and outreach should be prioritised for lower-risk organisations, while inspections and enhanced oversight should target organisations assessed as higher risk, without disrupting legitimate charitable activity.
During the plenary session, the Registrar clarified that organisations receiving no response to their registration application within 90 days become provisionally registered. He committed to engaging the Attorney-General, POTRAZ and other authorities on audit timelines, compliance fees, local-authority MOUs, clearance letters and overlapping reporting requirements. The Ministry also plans to train District Social Development Officers countrywide before the end of September and call for nominations to the new PVO Board. NANGO welcomed the direct engagement while continuing to call for standardised procedures, digitised processes, rationalised costs, accountable regulation and protection of organisational autonomy. These developments, reported by NANGO represent a positive step toward clearer, more proportionate and accessible regulation. However, the PVO Board and substantive Registrar structures remain incomplete and implementation of the commitments requires continued monitoring.