US embassy cable - 04HARARE1416

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 HARARE 001416 
 
SIPDIS 
 
AF/S FOR B. NEULING 
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: CONTROVERSIAL NGO BILL GAZETTED 
 
REF: HARARE 1250 AND PREVIOUS 
 
Classified By: Political Officer Bianca Menendez for reason 1.5 d 
 
1. (C) SUMMARY: The Government of Zimbabwe gazetted its 
proposed NGO legislation Friday, August 20. The bill gazetted 
is substantively the same as draft proposed legislation (see 
reftel). Under the bill, all NGOs would be required to 
register with the government, open their financial books to 
the government, and be subject to government involvement in 
their management. Foreign human rights and governance NGOs 
and domestic human rights and governance NGOs with foreign 
funding would be illegal. The NGO community is taking action 
but how far the GOZ will take the bill remains uncertain. END 
SUMMARY. 
 
2. (SBU) The National Association of Non-Governmental 
Organisations (NANGO) had been negotiating with the GOZ to 
update the existing Private and Voluntary Organisations Act 
and presented its own proposal to the GOZ. According to NANGO 
Executive Director Jonah Mudehwe, the release of the draft 
legislation while NANGO was engaging the government came as a 
surprise to the organization. After the release of the draft 
legislation in July, NANGO began an advocacy campaign to 
develop a single NGO position, to convince the GOZ of the 
importance of NGOs to the country, and to continue 
negotiation with the GOZ for a less restrictive bill. 
Representatives of Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights and 
Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition conducted a review for NANGO of 
the GOZ'S draft legislation. They concluded that such 
legislation would destroy the NGO community in Zimbabwe and 
that the GOZ's purpose in proposing such legislation was to 
restrict democratic space in Zimbabwe. 
 
3.  (C) Before his recent installation (septel), Archbishop 
of Harare Ndlovu told the Ambassador that the Catholic Church 
was quite concerned about the bill's effect on Catholic 
charities and on civil society's capacities.  In addressing 
government efforts to exert surveillance and control over 
Church organizations' various efforts, he had ordered 
relevent entities to share general information on areas of 
activity but not to open financial books.  He said the church 
would resist registration requirements in an effort to retain 
independence even as church entities continued to work with 
government. 
 
4. (C) August 23, NANGO met with the Minister of Public 
Service, Labour, and Social Welfare, Paul Mangwana, at his 
request, a meeting that was scheduled before the bill was 
gazetted. According to NANGO staff member Fambai Ngirande, 
the meeting went well and Mangwana expressed interest in 
getting NANGO engaged with Parliament. Ngirande said NANGO 
will continue its advocacy campaign, begin to engage with 
individual members of Parliament, and continue to negotiate 
with the GOZ. He said the GOZ understood the contribution of 
NGOs and that NANGO was optimistic that it could get the more 
negative aspects removed from the bill. He said that NANGO 
has started to see negative statements about itself in the 
government-controlled press, so the organization will proceed 
carefully with its advocacy and negotiation. Ngirande said 
that, prior to August 20, NANGO did not expect the bill to be 
gazetted before its meeting with Mangwana and that NANGO felt 
the GOZ's actions and timing were political. 
 
5. (U) Parliament closed session on August 20 and will not 
return until October 5. Despite being out of session, the 
Public Service, Labour, and Social Welfare Portfolio 
Committee of Parliament will sit and hold its first meeting 
August 24. The Portfolio Committee may hold hearings and 
conduct meetings with NANGO and other representatives of 
civil society. The Portfolio Committee can present amendments 
to the bill and may be asked to redraft the bill. 
 
6. (C) COMMENT: NANGO's continued optimism seems misplaced. 
Having substantially neutralized most other poles of domestic 
criticism--the media, organized labor, the judiciary, the 
political opposition--the GOZ now appears prepared to take on 
civil society. The bill's approach is ominously similar to 
the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act 
(AIPPA), under which three newspapers have been shut down 
over purported technical registration inadequacies. The NGO 
community is increasingly energized by the bill but many are 
constrained by concern that the bill's loudest opponents will 
be its first casualties. The GOZ has backed down before on 
efforts to shackle NGOs, most recently last September when it 
threatened to bring all food assistance under government 
control. Whether it backs down this time may depend in part 
on the NGO community's success in coupling the NGO bill with 
discussions on Zimbabwe's election environment, which the GOZ 
is trying to sell to the region. END COMMENT. 
SULLIVAN