Zimbabwe govt. defends proposed ban on foreign NGOs

The Zimbabwean government on Sunday defended its proposed bill to ban foreign human rights groups, by issuing a statement saying the draft bill is meant to regulate the operations of NGOs in Zimbabwe for national security.

In a statement, the Ministry of Public Service, Labor and Social Welfare said that the bill seeks to provide for registration of NGOs, an enabling environment for their operations and monitoring and regulation of the organizations, among other things.

This comes in the wake of the National Association of Non Governmental Organizations (NANGO) sharp criticism of the proposed bill.

The bill is expected to be approved by parliament after it reconvenes on Oct. 5 this year.

According to the Bill, NGOs will register with a state-dominated regulatory council and disclose details of their programs and funding.

The bill said no foreign NGOs would be registered if its sole or principal objects involve or include issues of governance.

The bill would also set up a council whose members would be appointed by Zimbabwe's social welfare minister to oversee the activities of foreign and local aid groups.

NANGO has said that the bill will have a negative impact on the ordinary citizens who are the beneficiaries of NGOs' work in the country.

The ministry has, however, dismissed the criticism of the bill as misdirected and anarchist and has urged NGOs to comply with the law and register their organizations before the bill is passed into law.

"Those unregistered, but operating organizations do not have towait for the bill to be passed into law. They have to stop and put their houses in order," the ministry said in a statement.

The ministry said that banning of foreign funding for NGOs dealing in human rights work is meant to "get rid of the mischief of foreign donors employing locals to champion foreign values, to the detriment of national security."

Speaking at the official opening of the fifth session of the fifth parliament of Zimbabwe last month, President Robert Mugabe announced the intention of the government to repeal the Private Voluntary Organizations Act and replacing it with a law that governs the operations on NGOs in the country.

"Non-Governmental Organizations must work for the betterment ofthe country and not against it. We cannot allow them to be conduits or instruments of foreign interference in our national affairs," he said.

Source: Xinhua