Government withdraws NGO licences as crackdown widens

By Violet Gonda
17 April 2007

The Zimbabwe government has cancelled licences for Non Governmental Organisations (NGO’s) alleging that they are being funded by the west. But critics say this is the usual paranoia and a ploy by the regime to silence critics. The Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition has said this is an illegal act and a violation of the law as it stands. The Mugabe regime accuses the British and United States of giving NGOs money to remove the ZANU PF led government from power.

John Nkomo, ZANU PF National Chairperson and Speaker of Parliament, is quoted in the Herald newspaper saying: "They are creating an unAfrican culture, giving money to people to remove their leaders. They are fronts for regime change who have no real purpose nor reason to be in the country."

State media reported that the government has cancelled the registration certificates of the NGOs to ‘sift out those seeking to force regime change in Zimbabwe.” According to media reports Information Minister Sikhanyiso Ndlovu said all NGOs are going to be screened and those believed to be supporting the opposition will be closed down.

Critics say once again the authorities are taking an unconstitutional and illegal route to clampdown on alleged ‘enemies of the state.’ Jacob Mafume the Chairperson of the Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition, a gathering of civic society organisations, said there has been no communication from the government about the ban and it’s not clear what law the regime would use to de-register NGOs.

NGOs in Zimbabwe can work as trusts or operate as investors and it’s reported that there are only a few that are registered with the Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare. Mafume said NGOs do not necessarily need permits to operate in Zimbabwe, which means the authorities would only have to revoke the licences of the few that are licenced. The civic leader said the government cannot go ahead without a legal framework. But Mafume warned that the NGO community is taking these threats seriously as the government has shown over and over again that it is above the law.

NGOs are aimed at building capacity and providing the basis for civic society. A delegation from CIVICUS, the World Alliance for Citizen Participation plus regional church leaders went on a solidarity visit to Zimbabwe recently and observed that civic society is under acute threat. CIVICUS Secretary General Kumi Naidoo and Clare Doube the Manager of CIVICUS’ Civic Society Watch programme said they found growing limitations on civic society’s vital work, as well as mounting violations of people’s fundamental rights to freely express themselves and gather peacefully.
People from civic society have been arrested, tortured, abducted and the regime has shown its contempt of the rule of law by disobeying court orders. One of the delegates who visited Zimbabwe, Reverend Nicholas Mkaronda (Director of the Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition chapter in South Africa) said it was evident that oppression is increasing rather than decreasing.
He said: “What we found is what the Malawians went through under Kamuzu Banda. We have to understand that we are talking about the oppression of blacks by a black leader. It is not the oppression or the differences between Zimbabwe and London that caused the crisis that we have in Zimbabwe.”