According to the CIVICUS Monitor, civic space in Zimbabwe is rated as “repressed”. Over the past few months, numerous cases have been reported of increasing restrictions targeting civil society ahead of the elections in August 2023. Restrictive amendments to CSO law, public vilification of CSOs and foreign diplomatic missions, raids on CSO activities, deregistration and suspension of CSOs have become commonplace.

In July 2023, President Emmerson Mnangagwa signed into law the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Amendment Bill (Patriotic Bill), which  now essentially criminalises the lobbying of foreign governments to extend or implement sanctions against Zimbabwe or its officials. Similarly, the controversial Private Voluntary Organisations (PVO) Amendment Bill, which will extend unfettered discretion to authorities to interfere with CSO operations, was passed by the parliament and the senate and is now only awaiting presidential assent, despite backlash and outcry from civil society. 

Citizens holding gatherings, including non-political events, also face arbitrary arrests. The government has clamped down on the freedom of peaceful assembly altogether. In June 2022, authorities arrested, detained and charged more than 36 other people who had gathered to hold prayers for the country.

For more information about the country, visit: https://monitor.civicus.org/country/zimbabwe/ 

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