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Zim revokes NGOs licences
16/04/2007 18:36 - (SA)
Harare - Zimbabwean authorities have cancelled licences for non-governmental organisations in a crackdown on groups accused of planning to oust President Robert Mugabe, said state television on Monday.
"Government has annulled registration certificates of all NGOs in order to sift out those seeking to force regime change in Zimbabwe," said the state broadcaster Zimbabwe Television.
"As pro-opposition and western organisations masquerading as relief agencies continue to mushroom, the government has annulled the registration certificates of all NGOs in order to screen out agents of imperialism from genuine organisations working to uplift the well-being of the poor."
The report said information minister Sikhanyiso Ndlovu made the announcement at a meeting of ruling party supporters in Bulawayo.
Anti-government religious groups
"The opposition has of late been aligning itself with anti-government religious groups under the umbrella of the Save Zimbabwe Campaign," said the report.
"Rallies held under this banner have seen supposedly prayer meetings turning into violent illegal gatherings."
Zimbabwean authorities have in the past accused western powers of using NGOs and aid agencies to channel funds to the country's main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).
The country's relations with the west became strained after the US and the EU imposed targeted sanctions on Mugabe and cronies from his ruling party following presidential elections in 2002 whose outcome was disputed by the MDC and western observers.
Mugabe often castigates MDC leaders as stooges of the west and accuses British Prime Minister Tony Blair of harbouring plans to recolonise Zimbabwe using the MDC as a front.
To keep an eye on the operations of NGOs, the authorities drafted a bill allowing the state to demand records of finances and operations of NGOs.
- AFP
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