The Non-Governmental Organisations Bill, condemned by human rights organisations because it will severely restrict their activities, had its third reading and was passed by Parliament at a late night sitting on 9th December. It now requires only the signature of the President and to be gazetted before it comes into force. "Helpless against a determined regime holding all the levers of power, we watch aghast as one after another of the spaces formerly providing independent thought and action are closed down, and a fascist regime takes control of every aspect of social existence," concludes this article from the activist website Sokwanele.