The Zimbabwean government has drawn up legislation to curtail the activities of charities, church groups and other non-governmental organisations.
Announcing the draft legislation, President Robert Mugabe said non-governmental organisations "must work for the betterment of our country and not against it ... We cannot allow them to be conduits or instruments of foreign interference in our national affairs."
Civic leaders have denounced the bill, expected to be tabled in parliament within weeks, as an attempt to strangle all independent, critical voices in Zimbabwe in the run-up to parliamentary elections in March next year. The bill would make it difficult for independent bodies to speak out against state torture and other human rights abuses, the prevalence of hunger and vote rigging, they warned.
"It's very threatening," said a community leader, Rutendo Hadebe. "Obviously it is all about the elections. Before the last elections the government passed legislation to restrict the press. Now civic organisations are the next stumbling block so the government is taking measures against us."
The bill forbids local organisations from receiving foreign funding and requires them to register with the government, which can ban them. The bill also prevents foreign organisations from operating if they intend to work in the areas of governance and human rights.
Amnesty International said: "The government will use this new bill to silence critical voices and further restrict the right to freedom of expression. It is a clear attempt to suppress dissenting views as parliamentary elections draw closer."
Iden Wetherell, chairman of the Zimbabwe National Editors' Forum, said: "This bill is part of a wider campaign by government to close down democratic space in the country."
This week the Zimbabwe Election Support Network urged the government to carry out new and transparent voter registration. It said the voters' roll was so riddled with dead voters, multiple entries and "ghost" voters that it could not be used in free and fair polls.
Yesterday, Zimbabwe's main opposition party accused police of harassing its leader to hinder his political activities before the elections. Police on Saturday searched the northern Harare home of the Movement for Democratic Change leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, looking for weapons. None was found, said an opposition spokesman, William Bango.