Bill to Control NGOs Threatens Democracy in Zimbabwe
Washington File; September 17, 2004; Jim Fisher-Thompson

Once again, action by the government of Zimbabwe has increased fears about repression in the African nation. The Washington File of September 17, 2004 provides their viewpoint:

Washington -- President Robert Mugabe is pushing a law through Parliament that would throttle local civil society organizations while banning assistance from foreign counterparts in another assault on the liberties of all Zimbabweans, says Learned Dees, senior Africa program officer with the National Endowment for Democracy (NED).

In a September 8 phone interview from his office, Dees told the Washington File, "The central rationale for the Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO) Bill is obviously to control dissenting voices" before Zimbabwe's 2005 national elections. (The bill is due for a vote in Parliament sometime in October.)

There are two parts of the legislation that cause grave concerns among NGOs and democracy advocates, he said. The first requires all NGOs to register with the government, which gives the government a chance to decide which organizations are valid. The second part denies all funding of domestic organizations from foreign groups working in the broad area of democracy building.

If this law were to pass, Dees said, it "would essentially put another nail in the coffin of democracy in Zimbabwe."

The National Endowment for Democracy was established in 1983 by the U.S. Congress to help fund democratization and civil society efforts worldwide. Its programs in Africa range from election training and monitoring to working with women's advocacy and other civil society groups.

Dees noted that Mugabe's latest initiative is characteristic of previous tactics employed by the politician to silence critics in election years. "This NGO bill is clearly in preparation for the presidential contest next year, " he explained. "As it nears, the most important information about shortcomings in the electoral process will come from Zimbabwean NGOs; so [the bill] is an effort to mute those voices.

"Unfortunately, this is part of a consistent trend in which the [Mugabe] government is determined to push forward its agenda by shutting down anybody and everybody that has an opinion different from its own," he added.

The prohibition on foreign funding would hit Zimbabwe's more than 300 NGOs especially hard, Dees pointed out. "In general, if you look at the trend in Africa, continentwide, most of the organizations specializing in governance get the majority of their funding from external sources. So passage of this bill would mean their support would evaporate overnight."

African reporter Arthur Okwemba recently wrote, in the Internet Web site Wire Service, that the NGO bill would turn the clock back on women's participation in the democratic process. He quoted several representatives of women's NGOs in Zimbabwe, who said their funding would dry up if the law were passed, making it almost impossible for them to stand for seats in Parliament.

Okwemba added, "Important election functions like monitoring, voter education and monitoring of violence ... will also end once the legislation goes into effect."

In August, the International Bar Association (IBA), headquartered in London, published an analysis of Mugabe's NGO proposal, asserting: "The bill is a flagrant violation of international and regional human rights standards and norms. It also represents a decisive rejection of the terms of the Constitution of Zimbabwe, which provides for the right of freedom of expression, association and assembly."

The IBA analysis went on to condemn the legislation for interfering in the vital work NGOs have done in Zimbabwe "to mitigate the effects of the scourge of the food crisis, AIDS and political violence."

Dees held out hope that "as the bill wends its way through committee in Parliament, there's the possibility that some significant changes could occur because there's a well-organized effort to get it changed. Everybody knows what's at stake. There are quite a few opposition voices in Parliament -- not enough to constitute a majority, but hopefully enough to derail this extremist piece of legislation.

"There's a hope that external pressure could soften the legislation," Dees added. "But, unfortunately, we've seen over the last four or five years that Mugabe doesn't really care so much for international opinion. He's determined to implement his own policies regardless of the cost to the democratic process and the nation's economy.

"If the worst happens and the bill is passed in its current punitive form against NGOs, we can really kiss the elections goodbye and one of the last peaceful means for change in the country will be closed off," Dees concluded.

(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)