The Zimbabwean government has instructed all NGOs to register under the controversial Private Voluntary Organisations (PVO) Act in a move seen as a further attempt to clamp down on independent voices.
After failing to use the Political Parties (Finances) Act to kill off foreign funding of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), the government believes that funds for the MDC are being channelled through NGOs, hence the crackdown.
Last month the Ministry of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare published an advertisement in the government-controlled Herald instructing all NGOs not registered to do so in terms of Section 9 of the PVO Act.
Section 6 of the Act does not allow such a “body, institution or association to operate without being registered”, the notice said.
Section 25 of the same Act makes it a criminal offence to operate without being registered.
Human rights activist Brian Kagoro said the Act criminalised organisations such as the temporary networks set up to respond to the food crisis and those meant to assist displaced farm workers. He said most of these were trusts registered with the Registrar of Deeds and the High Court.
“It is tantamount to saying that, faced with the incapacity of the state and registered PVOs to respond to the current crisis due to its magnitude, all bona fide attempts to assist are criminal,” Kagoro said.
The law was enacted in 1997 but was not being fully enforced and analysts view the attempts to do so now as a sign of desperation.
The recent moves by the government are contrary to a ruling of the full bench of the Supreme Court, which struck down provisions of the PVO Act in 1997. The case involved the Ministry of Labour and the Association of Women’s Clubs.
The NGO Network Alliance Project (NNAP), which groups all NGOs, said the government was considering tightening the legislation.
“The Ministry of Justice is believed to be drafting legislation that will affect the operations of non-profit organisations in Zimbabwe,” the NNAP said in a statement.
On Wednesday Information Minister Jonathan Moyo suggested on local TV that the government would crack down on NGOs funded by foreign governments.
Jonah Gokova, coordinator for Ecumenical Support Services, said the law was highly controversial and undemocratic. “To start with, the PVO Act has always been a very contentious piece of legislation since it was passed into law in 1997. NGO/civil society activists have described the Act as undemocratic and completely inadequate as a basis for creating an enabling framework for NGO/civil society dialogue and cooperation.”
Gokova said the government wanted to use this law to crack down on the activities of the NGOs and civil society. “The real motive behind the PVO Act is for government to achieve total control of NGO/civil society groups,” he said.
“We have seen this happening with other critical sectors like the students, workers, the judiciary, the media and political parties, all of which have been affected by specifically designed legislation intended to stifle their work. There is no reason why NGOs/civil society should assume that they could be an exception unless they are deciding to play a more passive role in the face of an unprecedented national crisis.”
Kagoro said the obsession with NGOs could be linked to the increasing isolation of the Mugabe regime.
“It is because of the drought, the economic meltdown and the isolation of the regime. The NGO sector is the conduit for bilateral and multi- lateral development and this explains their obsession with controlling this sector,” said Kagoro.
MDC spokesperson Paul Themba Nyathi said the move was an attack on civilisation itself.
“The other aim of this strategy is to destroy the little democratic space created by the NGOs for the past 22 years. This is a desperate attempt by the Mugabe regime to cling to power and such measures are a threat to civilisation itself.” — (c) Zimbabwe Independent 2002