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Johannesburg: Aid group Care International said on Tuesday that Zimbabwe's government suspended the group's operations in the country after accusing it of campaigning for the opposition. At least two other aid groups also said they had been told to curb some activities.
Care's Africa communications director, Kenneth Walker, said the order for an immediate halt to aid work came during a Friday meeting with Social Welfare Minister Nicholas Goche.
Walker said officials ordered that the halt continue during an investigation into allegations of political activity by Care staff members in support of opposition candidates before the disputed March 29 presidential and parliament elections.
Walker said Care "categorically" denies it encourages or tolerates political activity by staff. "We have a very strict policy against political activity," he said.
The group provides aid to about 500,000 Zimbabweans and had been scheduled to expand food distribution to about one million people this month, he said.
Once a prominent source of food for southern Africa, Zimbabwe now struggles to feed its people without international assistance.
The key agriculture sector shrivelled after President Robert Mugabe ordered the seizure of farms from whites beginning in 2002, leading to an economic collapse that has left millions unable to pay for food and other essentials.
Rights groups decry violence and other intimidation in the run-up to the vote that has killed more than 50 opposition supporters. Thousands of Zimbabweans have been driven from their homes, especially in rural areas where Mugabe lost much support in the first round of voting.
The United States criticised the decision to halt Care's work, calling it a "tragedy" and said it showed a "hardened indifference on the part of the Zimbabwean government to the plight of its people."
On Tuesday, Mugabe accused the West of using non-governmental organizations to channel funds to the opposition.
"Further, these Western-funded NGOs also use food as a political weapon with which to campaign against government, especially in the rural areas," he said at a UN food summit in Rome.
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