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Christopher Makaza-Correspondent
Some rogue Non-Governmental Organisations (NGO) and Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) have always been caught offside, diverting from their core mandate, joining hands with the opposition parties in trying to push a hidden political agenda of removing the Zanu PF-led Government from power.
There is need for them to stick to their mandate as the country approach the 2023 elections to avoid unnecessary confusion. For a long time, the West has been channelling funds to opposition political parties through the NGOs and CSOs.
These Western-funded NGOs normally use food as a political weapon with which to campaign against the Government, especially in the rural areas where there are a lot of vulnerable people.
The NGOs recently blamed the Government for failing to honour its constitutional obligation on the right to food. They accused the Government of pushing about 8,6 million Zimbabweans into starvation and poverty through its alleged populist and partisan politics.
The NGOs which include the Zimbabwe Human Rights Forum and Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition (CiZC) among others, recently expressed concern over alleged politicisation of food aid, adding that it was the responsibility of the Government to feed its people.
The NGOs suggested that Government should come up with food security and livelihood programmes aimed at empowering vulnerable communities so that their access to food and a balanced diet could be increased.
The NGOs boasted that they had on several occasions come to the aid of hungry Zimbabweans, providing food handouts to the hungry citizens.
Notwithstanding the fact that erratic rainfall was received during the 2021/2022 agricultural season which affected the yields, the NGOs and the CSOs are quick to conclude that Zimbabwe was facing man-made hunger and starvation. Sentiments by the NGOs are meant to justify their way in, especially in rural areas ahead of the 2023 Harmonised General Elections.
The opposition political parties particularly the Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) is currently in the process penetrating the rural areas, seeking for the rural vote ahead of the 2023 plebiscite.
So it’s not by coincidence, but by design that the two’s major focus right now is the rural areas with the main objective of neutralising Zanu PF domination. The rural areas are well known Zanu PF strongholds and the opposition has for a long time tried to penetrate them without success.
Currently there is an outcry from the NGOs and CSOs who operate in the country, over the Private Voluntary Organisation (PVO) Amendment Bill which was gazetted in November 2021 and seeks to amend the PVO Act.
The NGOs and the CSOs have raised concerns that the suggested amendments will restrict their work and violate human rights while negatively affecting communities which depend on their work. They claim that the proposed PVO Amendment Bill is a ploy by the Government to silence civic society groups that stand up for people’s rights and imposes “unfair” restrictions on CSOs and NGOs by proposing harsh penalties, including jail time of up to one year for NGO registration framework related perceived offences, a new requirement that the bill seeks to introduce.
The bottom line is that these NGOs and CSOs do not want their activities to be monitored, fearing that their nefarious activities will be exposed. They have joined forces to fight the alleged attempt by the Government to control and micro-manage their operations, moves which they see as unlawful interference.
Ahead of the 2023 polls, the US through USAID, already sets aside more than US$5 million to fund the NGOs under the guise of promoting rule of law, constitutionalism, and democracy in the country.
In June 2021, Harare Provincial Development Co-ordinator, Tafadzwa Muguti, issued an order requiring the directors of all NGOs, CSOs and PVOs to start reporting to his office on their operations.
However, only less than 40 out of thousands of these organisations complied with the directive to submit their work plans and programmes to Muguti’s office by 30 July 2021 deadline. Most of them questioned Muguti’s authority and the law under which he and the other provincial development coordinators sought to control them, fearing scrutiny of their work.
There is need for all NGOs to work in tandem with Government policies. Whenever they feel that they have vibrant ideas, they should consult and engage relevant authorities and work together transparently for the benefit of the communities they serve.
They should complement Government efforts in running its developmental programmes.
During a state of the nation address in 2020, President Mnangagwa revealed that the Government would craft laws to regulate NGOs that strayed from their core mission and that is exactly what the Government is doing.
There are currently more than 1 000 NGOs working in Zimbabwe across a range of areas like provision of humanitarian relief such as food aid, health and education.
In addition to those in the field of humanitarian aid, there are also service organisations and those working in political governance and their activities should be closely monitored as majority of them end up diverting from their mandate.
Online Reporter