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Daniel Chigunwe Herald Correspondent
Government has cancelled operations of the Muslim-run private voluntary organisation, Direct Aid after it emerged that it digressed from its mandated business.
Funded by the Royal family of Kuwait, the organisation which was registered in 2011 as a private voluntary organization went on to establish a secondary school through a council lease on 16-hectare land in transgression of their license terms and conditions as stipulated in their objectives.
Speaking during a stakeholder meeting in Mvurwi, Mazowe District Social Development officer Mr Oliver Chingozha said Direct Aid had failed to comply with the condition of their registration.
“As Government, we must monitor the adherence of organisations to the terms and conditions of their registration. In this case, Direct Aid digressed from their core business in that it was registered as a private voluntary organization and never as a school or orphanage. As a result, we had to cancel the operating licence,” said Mr Chingozha.
Previously known as the Muslim Africa Agency in the 1980s, the organisation branded to Direct Aid and has been operating in Manicaland and Masvingo offering humanitarian aid in the form of food, medicines in hospitals and drilling of boreholes.
Meanwhile, Mazowe North legislator Cde Campion Mugweni urged the organisation’s authorities to comply with the Government directives and at the same time utilise the relevant protocols to make amendments.
“As the local legislator, I know this move is a blow to the community which had pupils attending school here. However, we are glad that there has not been any directive to shut down the school yet from the relevant Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education meaning school continues until further notice.
“I urge the Muslim community and authorities of Direct Aid to engage relevant protocols and procedures since we hear that there can be a room of appeals and amendments. However, they have to comply with the current state of things which is the cancellation of the PVO,” said Cde Mugweni.
The school has more than 150 orphans with boarding facilities and day scholars drawn from the Mvurwi community.
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