By Wilbert Mandinde/Yassin Nhara On March 2 2021, the now late Zanu PF legislator for Mberengwa South, Alum Mpofu moved a motion in the National Assembly for the drafting of the proposed “Patriotic Bill” which seeks to criminalise private correspondence with foreign governments. Mpofu indicated that he was concerned about the negative portrayal of the country’s image and reputation and cited that as the reason for moving the motion. At the opening of the Third Session of the Ninth Parliament (2020), President Emmerson Mnangagwa indicated that there were at least 37 Bills in the pipeline aimed at amending or replacing existing laws. Among them was the Private Voluntary Organisations Amendment Bill (PVO Amendment Bill), which was intended to overhaul the administration of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and private voluntary organisations (PVOs) in the country. The development came as no surprise given various commentaries by government officials and associated actors that members of the NGO and PVO were descending into the arena of politics and involving themselves in activities outside their mandate. On March 15 2021, The Herald newspaper reported that the government was scheduled to deregister 450 NGOs for their failure to adhere to their mandate in terms of their registration. Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare minister Paul Mavima, was quoted as saying the names of the affected organisations had been published by the government and that the deregistration was necessitated by inactivity and failure to submit tax returns. Of common interest is the deliberate narrowing of the civic space and a general interference with the activities of civil society organisations. Given the general portrayal that civil society as divergent from the interests of the State over the years, it is a useful exercise to give context to the rift between civil society organisations (CSOs) and the government, since they depend on each other for the betterment of society as a whole. On June 24 2020, the DailyNews reported that the Zanu PF-alligned Zimbabwe Citizens Forum (Citizens Forum), had called for an audit of CSOs in Zimbabwe to identify those that were fuelling anarchy in the country. Similar sentiments have also been echoed by the President at various fora. Taurai Kundishaya, who is the Citizens Forum national co-ordinator stated that: “I understand that civil society organisations are watchdogs to the government. However, there is need to understand who is behind theses civil society organisations, who funds them and for what purpose. We should be very much vigilant and aware of certain civil society organisations and unions who are there to further their own agenda and are siphoning money from funders under the guise of removing government from power.” Evidently, there are two general inferences that can be drawn from the aforementioned statement. Firstly, that certain CSOs are viewed as existing for the sole purpose of furthering their own nefarious agendas, and secondly, that certain CSOs are aligned with a perceived a