Ethics Newsline®

HARARE, Zimbabwe
Ahead of upcoming elections in March, the government of Zimbabwe is preparing to pass a law that analysts say will block nearly all foreign funding for local aid organizations and government watchdogs.

The text of the proposed law was leaked last week to news organizations, which reported that the measure would make it nearly impossible for most foreign nonprofits and NGOs to provide services in Zimbabwe.

The effort, similar to a crackdown on press freedoms in 2002, is being championed by Zimbabwe president Robert Mugabe, who has been accused of corruption and faces a national election next March.

Mugabe has accused foreign aid organizations of meddling, saying the new law will keep local charities from being “instruments of foreign interference in our national affairs,” reported the Reuters news agency.

The draft of the law would require all NGOs to register with the state and ban any foreign organization whose “sole or principal objects involve or include issues of governance,” which it defines as “the promotion and protection of human rights and political governance issues.”

The broadly written measure is expected to curtail or entirely block foreign funding of nearly all charitable organizations, both local and foreign, currently operating in Zimbabwe, according to Voice of America.