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SOME opposition activists and non-governmental organisations in Zimbabwe should be told to stop singing for their supper because no one is listening. The winds of change sweeping across the country seem to have caught some career activists and NGOs asleep as they are intractably trapped in a time-warp and unable to come to terms with the reality of a changed political dispensation in Zimbabwe.Since the July 2013 general elections, Zimbabweans have embraced a new culture of tolerance and constructive engagement, discarding the retrogressive regime change politics which had come to characterise opposition parties before the watershed poll. President Mugabe has led the way, calling on his erstwhile rival Morgan Tsvangirai to accept defeat and work towards rebuilding the country.
The government has also extended an olive branch to its Western critics and is in the process of re-engaging the European Union in a bid to normalise relations. Since the polls which were won overwhelmingly by Cde Mugabe and Zanu-PF, the country has seen its citizens reaching out to each other in an unprecedented way and the polarisation which was divisive and stunting development, is slowly ebbing away. But some activists and NGOs, used to have their snouts in the feeding trough, are unrepentant and appear intent on taking the country back to its dark days instead of joining up with progressive Zimbabweans to take the country forward.
Tellingly, no one is listening to their shrill calls for leadership change and wild claims of a political and economic crisis. We refer here to the dismissal by the European Union on Tuesday of claims by opposition activists and NGOs that there was a leadership crisis in Zimbabwe.
The EU said the government was strong and able to steer the country forward through the implementation of poverty reduction strategies such as the Zimbabwe Agenda for Sustainable Socio-Economic Transformation and we agree with it. Responding to regime-change lobbyists at a forum organised by Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition at a Harare hotel to discuss the economy and economic sanctions, EU ambassador to Zimbabwe Aldo Del’Arricia chided civil society leaders and opposition politicians for their adversarial approach to the Zanu-PF government.
“On the matter of a supposed leadership crisis, let me tell you this, luckily we do not have a political leadership crisis in this country, we still have a strong leadership,” he said. “If we had a leadership crisis, there would be chaos. “We still have a leader who still manages to keep at bay and under control these forces that are very much contradictory.”
Del’Arricia said when dealing with the government, opposition parties and civic society should be constructive in attitude and less confrontational. The EU envoy schooled the civic society activists who had denounced Zim-Asset for alleged lack of a funding strategy, saying Zim-Asset was an economic blueprint that was very much work in progress.
“When you (civic society) are talking about Zim-Asset, I’ve the impression that you are bashing it or ridiculing it regardless of it being a development policy or a poverty reduction strategy,” he said, adding that the government, and in particular the Ministry of Finance, understood the need to operationalise Zim-Asset, hence they were calling on the African Development Bank to provide assistance which would transform Zim-Asset from a blueprint to a development strategy document. Del’Arricia rebuked the NGOs for being “anchored in the past”.
“The civil society has a role to play but I’ve the impression that you are a little bit anchored to the past where instead of seeing NGOs one perceives AGOs, Anti-Government Organisations. And if you start catching the flow of the time, the trend, there is an opening to be worked upon”. We applaud the EU envoy for finally putting NGOs and activists in their place and exhorting them to work with the government in a constructive way. We feel his attitude is positive and refreshing in a country which is still to find its feet. Zimbabwe has said it is willing to work with the EU and US in normalising relations. Addressing the 50th anniversary commemorative summit of the Group of 77 Developing Countries and China in Bolivia on Sunday, President Mugabe reiterated his invitation to the European Union and the United States to review their position on Zimbabwe and normalise relations. In this context, we find the stance adopted by the EU in relation to the NGOs and other local activists as progressive and we urge them to heed the counsel of the EU envoy and stop their adversarial attitude towards the government. It’s time to mend fences and move on.
Online Reporter