US embassy cable - 04HARARE1250

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 HARARE 001250 
 
SIPDIS 
 
AF/S FOR AGALANEK 
NSC FOR SENIOR AFRICA DIRECTOR C. COURVELLE, D. TEITELBAUM 
LONDON FOR C. GURNEY 
PARIS FOR C. NEARY 
NAIROBI FOR T. PFLAUMER 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/31/2009 
TAGS: PGOV, PHUM, PREL, EAID, ZI, Parliamentary Affairs 
SUBJECT: CRACKDOWN ON NGOS? 
 
REF: A. (A) HARARE 1206 
     B. (B) HARARE 1179 
     C. (C) HARARE 1067 
     D. (D) HARARE 720 
     E. (E) HARARE 461 
     F. (F) HARARE 409 
 
Classified By: Political Officer Bianca Menendez for reason 1.5 d 
 
1. (C) SUMMARY: The Government of Zimbabwe is putting the 
squeeze on non-governmental organizations. GOZ officials have 
said NGOs will be required to operate with the permission of 
provincial governments and in accordance with conditions set 
out in a proposed restrictive new NGO bill. The draft bill 
would require all NGOs to register with the government, would 
outlaw activities in human rights and governance by foreign 
NGOs or local NGOs with foreign funding, and would permit 
government micromanagement of organizations--all purportedly 
to ensure that NGOs do not interfere with the government. 
These measures permit further politicization of food and seek 
to counter possible positive effects of any electoral reform. 
END SUMMARY. 
 
The NGO Bill 
----------------- 
 
2. (U) Under the existing Private Voluntary Organizations 
Act, NGOs are required to register with the government. The 
government issued a notice in September 2002 alerting NGOs 
that they would be closed down if they did not register. A 
June 28 article in the Chronicle newspaper reported Minister 
of Local Government Ignatius Chombo as saying that the 
government would be enforcing the existing law and also 
requiring NGOs to get permission from provincial governments 
for their activities, because those officials are best placed 
to direct NGOs to areas of need and to prohibit activities 
that "meddle in internal affairs." According to Lancester 
Museka, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Public 
Service, Labour, and Social Welfare, who was quoted in the 
July 18 Sunday Mail newspaper, NGOs must register to ensure 
they are working toward their stated purpose and are not 
helping the opposition to destabilize the countrys. He said 
NGOs who are not registered would be closed down. 
 
3. (U) President Mugabe's address to the opening of the fifth 
session of the fifth Parliament (ref A) echoed comments of 
the Public Service Ministry. He confirmed that the government 
would be introducing the bill to Parliament and stated that 
NGOs must work for the betterment of the country and not as a 
means for foreign influences to interfere in internal affairs. 
 
4. (U) According to an unofficial copy of highlights of the 
bill that the government plans to propose in Parliament, all 
NGOs must register with the government. The bill would also 
create an NGO Council, which would establish a code of 
conduct for all NGOs and oversee the management of NGOs. The 
bill prohibits "foreign" NGOs from operating in the areas of 
human rights and governance or local NGOs from operating in 
those areas with "foreign funds." The bill defines a 
"foreign" NGO as any organization not entirely composed of 
permanent residents or citizens of Zimbabwe who are also 
physically domiciled in Zimbabwe. Similarly, to be considered 
local, all funding must be from persons who are permanent 
residents or citizens of Zimbabwe also domiciled in Zimbabwe 
or a company that is both registered and operating in 
Zimbabwe. Given these restrictive definitions, the vast 
majority of NGOs would be considered foreign or funded from 
foreign sources. Under the bill, the Minister of Public 
Service, Labour, and Social Welfare would oversee the 
financial books of each NGO and would be able to separate 
branches of NGOs and establish them as independent 
organizations. The Minister of Public Service could also 
suspend any NGO for "maladministration." 
 
NGO and Donor Responses to the Bill 
--------------------------------------------- - 
 
5. (C) Comments from Democracy and Human Rights Fund from 
grantees indicate that many are not seriously concerned about 
the bill, because, despite the prior warnings from the GOZ 
that the PVO Act would be enforced, it has been enforced only 
rarely. The Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace plans 
on holding meetings to deal with these issues many months 
from now. Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, another DHRF 
partner, commented that the new law would not apply to it 
because the organization is not really an NGO, but rather a 
membership organization. 
 
6. (U) Other NGOs have shown more concern. Brian Kagoro, 
co-chair of the Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition was quoted in 
the UK Daily Telegraph newspaper July 19 expressing concern 
that NGOs that are currently registered as trusts--the 
majority of human rights NGOs--would be illegal under the new 
law.  Trusts do not register under the current PVO law, and 
any organization not already registered would have to 
completely cease activities while it applies for registration 
under the new law. 
 
7. (C) ZLHR and the National Association for NGOs (NANGO) are 
both forming a response to the new bill. ZLHR is working on a 
legal opinion of the proposed legislation and is 
contemplating litigation to overturn it if enacted. NANGO has 
also formed a legal committee and a negotiating committee in 
the hopes that the proposed legislation is the GOZ's opening 
position in a negotiation. According to comments made to 
USAID, ZLHR plans to meet with NANGO representatives to 
coordinate activities. 
 
8. (C) USAID Democracy and Governance program partners have 
indicated that, if the bill becomes law, they plan on 
registering first then challenging the requirement to 
register in court to avoid the problems the Daily News 
encountered in its legal challenge to the requirement for 
newspapers to register under the Access to Information and 
Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA). In that case, the Supreme 
Court declined to rule on the Daily News' claim that AIPPA 
was unconstitutional, finding that the Daily News had unclean 
hands because it had not registered, and the GOZ subsequently 
closed the Daily News for failing to register (ref F). 
 
9. (SBU) Mission officers are scheduled to attend a general 
meeting July 27 with representatives of donors to governance 
programs to discuss the new bill and possible responses. 
 
Problems for NGOs 
------------------------- 
 
10. (C) Some NGOs are already experiencing problems. One 
USAID partner, Victory Tabernacle, experienced difficulties 
with the launch of their Mutare Tertiary Students for Peace 
program. Student organizers of peace clubs had planned a 
public launch and peace concert and were interrupted by 
police who asked for their registration papers. Police 
permitted the function but warned organizers that they would 
be arrested if they mentioned politics, and police set up 
roadblocks to prevent students from being ferried to the 
event from schools. 
 
11. (C) At a World Food Program food aid coordination meeting 
attended by USAID, several NGOs indicated they were having 
problems in the countryside. As mentioned above, some are 
being told to stop general food distribution although they 
may be asked to continue feeding programs to targeted, 
vulnerable populations. Police stopped one NGO, Feed the 
Hungry, from carrying out its activities and told staff to 
get a letter of approval from the local MP. Some NGOs 
reported that they are denied access to targeted populations, 
such as displaced farm workers. CSAFE said it has written 
letters to officials at the district levels with planned 
activities and asked for a stamp of approval from each. Many 
of the NGOs said they were planning to schedule a meeting 
between NGOs and Permanent Secretary Museka from the Public 
Service Ministry. 
 
12. (SBU) Other NGOs have experienced other types of 
harassment for their activities. For example, 48 members of 
Women of Zimbabwe Arise!, a human rights group, are on trial 
for demonstrating against the Public Order Security Act. The 
trial has been continued several times, and a delayed 
resolution distracts the group from its activities (ref B). 
COMMENT 
----------------- 
 
13. (C) In a worst-case scenario, if the bill is gazetted and 
passed as the unofficial copy describes, all of USAID's 
democracy and governance partners would be affected and most 
likely would not be able to continue if funded by USAID. This 
could spell the end of many USAID activities in Zimbabwe. 
 
14. (C) The attempt to limit and monitor NGO activity appears 
to be a further tactic in the GOZ,s strategy of limiting 
international presence in the run-up to the March 2005 
parliamentary elections (ref E). The GOZ continues to insist 
that there will be a bumper harvest of maize this year and 
that Zimbabwe needs no food aid. Comments from USAID NGO 
partners indicate that they have been asked to cease general 
feeding programs and instead focus on programs to targeted 
groups, such as school feeding programs or areas that have 
had particular problems with diseased farm animals. The new 
NGO legislation would significantly enhance GOZ capacity to 
manipulate food politically by cutting access to the 
countryside by donors and by further securing its control of 
food distribution throughout the country. 
 
15. (C) A more direct and obvious attempt to limit the impact 
of NGOs on the elections is with electoral reform. The 
electoral amendment bill gazetted in April 2004 and 
subsequently withdrawn contained a provision to bar NGOs with 
foreign funding from conducting voter education (ref D). It 
is unclear if the current electoral reforms proposed by the 
government (ref C) will contain this measure since the NGO 
bill would bring under the direct control of the GOZ 
governance-related work by NGOs, if not eliminate it 
altogether, in any event. 
 
16. (C) As elections approach, the government will probably 
make it increasingly difficult for all NGOs to operate, 
whether this bill is enacted or not. The GOZ wants to keep 
international elements from interacting with local 
constituencies or reporting on local conditions to the 
outside world. The proposed new NGO legislation may be just 
an intimidation tactic or, if passed, may represent the 
latest tangible tool with which to asphyxiate voices of 
debate and to perpetuate ruling party control. The unofficial 
bill is also an indication of the government's likely 
intention to counter the impact of proposed election reform 
by further limiting access to information and politicizing 
food aid to an even greater extent. END COMMENT. 
WEISENFELD