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Zim NGO Bill: dangerous for human rights defenders
Betrays High Degree of Gvt Paranoia and Contempt For the Regional and International Community
Arnold Tsunga and Tafadzwa Mugabe, Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR)
July 28, 2004

Observations on the Draft NGO Bill
In terms section 2 of the draft bill, NGO " means any foreign or local body or association of persons, corporate or unincorporated, or any institution, the objects of which include or are one or more of the following:

a) The provision of all any of the material, mental, physical or social needs or persons or families
b) the rendering of charity to persons in distress
c) the prevention of social distress or destitution or persons or families
d) the provision of assistance in, or promotion of activities aimed at uplifting the standard of living of persons or families
e) the provision of funds for legal aid
f) the prevention of cruelty to or the promotion of the welfare of animals
g) the promotion of and protection of human rights and good governance
h) the promotion and protection of environmental rights and interest and sustainable development
i) such other objects as may be prescribed
j) the collection of contributions for nay of the foregoing"

It is quite self evident that from the above definition that every NGO and human rights defenders "hrds" are covered directly by the NGO legislation. Since human rights are universal, interrelated and interdependent it is quite clear that by using the phrase "promoting of and protection of human rights" the government has targeted and included organisations that promote and protect civil and political as well as economic, social and cultural rights in the net of organisations that it wants to control.

Section 9 of the proposed NGO Legislation provides that

"1) No non-governmental organisations shall
    a)  Commence or continue to carry on its activities or
    b)  seek financial assistance from any source (own emphasis)
Unless it has been registered in respect of the particular object or objects in furtherance of which it is constitutional

2) No person shall collect contributions from the public except in terms of this Act

3) No person shall in any manner take part in management or control of a non governmental organisation, knowing that the organisation is contravening subsection (1)."

This section makes it compulsory for all NGOs to register if they are to carry out any activities should the bill be promulgated into law. The section also creates a minefield for possible management boards of NGOs as it creates personal criminal sanctions against the board members in their individual capacities should they sit on the board of an unregistered NGO.

The proposed bill also creates a NGO Council composed of 5 civil society representatives and 9 government representatives, all appointed by and at the discretion of the Executive. The functions of the council shall inter alia be:

a) " . . . to consider and determine every application for registration and every proposed cancellation or amendment of a certificate of registration and
b) to conduct investigations into the administration and activities of non governmental organisations . . . and to take such disciplinary or other action as may be appropriate . . .
c) to formulate rules for the registration or deregistration of non governmental organisations
d) to formulate code of conduct for non-governmental organisations".

Part of the details which Directors of NGOs will be compelled to state in the applications for their organisations to be registered by the NGO Council include, in terms of section 10 of the bill "the names of, nationality and addresses of its promoters; its sources of funding; its plan of action or projected activities for the next three years; the procedure for convening meetings; the terms and conditions of office bearers and removal of such office bearers from office; disclosure provisions for all foreign donations to the organisation;" These requirements are needlessly intrusive and show an appetite on the part of government to use the law to as a tool of intelligence against the NGOs and their boards and management. The provisions are sinister.

On the issue of funding, section 17 of the bill provides that "No local NGO shall receive any foreign funding or donation to carry out activities involving or including issues of governance". Issues of governance are defied in section 2 as "includes the promotion and protection of human rights and political governance issues". In other words, if the impact of the provision is to be understood correctly, then section 17 must be read as follows: -No local NGO shall receive any foreign funding or donation to carry out activities involving or including the promotion and protection of human rights and political governance- Given that the universally accepted perception of human rights is broad enough to cover civil and political as well as economic social and cultural rights, it is clear that the government could ban any foreign funding of any and every disliked NGO using this provision if the bill is promulgated into law. In the event that an NGO gets funding and it is deemed that the funding is unlawful by the government, the bill provides in section 28 that the Minister may order repatriation of the money back to the funding partner or may take possession of the money, securities or property and ultimately it may be paid over to the Guardian's Fund. At dissolution, the property of NGOs may be taken over by the State in terms of section 30 of the bill. The government has therefore not only angled itself for a serious intrusion into the affairs of NGOs in order to paralyse them and hrds, but also positioned itself to illicitly benefit by expropriation of assets of disliked NGOs in the real and likely event of forcible closures under the pretext that the NGOs have committed "administrative illegalities".

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