Proposed Zimbabwe clampdown on NGOs faces church opposition ENI-04-0709

Geneva, 27 October (ENI)–Opposition is mounting in Zimbabwe to a draft law that seeks among other things, to ban foreign funding for non-governmental organizations that deal with governance issues.

A local ecumenical body blasted the proposed law as “provocative” and “deeply sinister”. “The bill is all about control,” said Christians Together for Justice and Peace, a grouping of Christian denominations, in a statement on 17 October. It described the bill as “iron-handed control which an unpopular administration seeks to assert over one of the last remaining democratic spaces in this country”.

Similar sentiments have been expressed by groups of lawyers, journalists, civic groups, human rights organizations and church bodies such as the Solidarity Peace Trust and the (Roman) Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace.

On Tuesday, Zimbabwe immigration officers seized members of a South African trade union delegation as they met in Harare with their Zimbabwean counterparts.

The South African group had been allowed into the country the previous day but had been told by Zimbabwean authorities not to hold meetings with a number of civic groups, including the Zimbabwe Council of Churches, news reports stated.

Some critics of the proposed new law described the measure as akin to Zimbabwe’s harsh media and security laws that have been used to shut down two independent newspapers and to virtually criminalise many activities of civil society, opposition political parties and human rights groups.

“We discern in this bill a deeply sinister purpose, and that is to disable all NGOs which the ruling party perceives as a threat to their continuing brutal hold on power,” read part of the statement by Christians Together for Justice and Peace.

A group of women were arrested near Harare in September after walking 440 kilometres to protest against the bill.

:: Stringent laws controlling media in Zimbabwe prevent effective reporting in the country.