NGOs fight over scarce funds

Gibson Nyikadzino

Zimpapers Politics Hub

THE US’ recent withdrawal of funding for some non-governmental organisations (NGOs) has triggered turf wars and strained relations among civic society leaders, the Zimpapers Politics Hub can reveal.

This comes after The Sunday Mail last week exposed how the US is pulling the plug on funding for some local NGOs.

It has since been established that local agencies like Internews, which the US uses as a channel to disburse funds, have sidelined their traditional partners, whose publicity strategies have failed to give traction to approved programmes, leading to donor complaints.

They have, instead, opted for new and emerging partners.

Media bodies like the Zimbabwe National Editors Forum (ZINEF) and the Zimbabwe Union of Journalists (ZUJ) were sidelined from getting any funding because they were viewed as being aligned with the Government. ZINEF is an association of editors from both public and private media organisations, while ZUJ’s membership is drawn from accredited journalists from diverse media houses and freelancers.

“Internews is now selecting who to do programmes with and whom not to. Organisations like ZINEF and ZUJ have been shown the exit door because they are now regarded as working with people who have links with the State; that is, editors from public media organisations,” said a source who requested anonymity.

“In the end, Internews is now a rising cartel in the distribution of donor funds. They now prefer emerging media organisations (names supplied) they regard as modern.”

The source said some civic society leaders who have been denied funding are now labelling Internews and those it is being associated with as “regime change agents”.

“These are turf wars and the challenge is the NGO sector has become so corrupt in the name of advocacy. Directors of these organisations have bought houses at the expense of their humanitarian or advocacy mandate. As a result, they are calling each other ‘regime change agents’ all because of money.”Responding to the allegations, Internews country director Mr Tawedzegwa Musitini told The Sunday Mail: “In terms of our collaboration, we work with everyone. We have never refused working with anyone.”

However, the organisation recently stopped implementing its programmes because of lack of funds. Mr Musitini said the funds have so far been “delayed”.

ZINEF national coordinator Mr Njabulo Ncube and ZUJ secretary-general Perfect Hlongwane confirmed that Internews had stopped funding them.

Since 2000, Zimbabwe has been able to blunt efforts to interfere in its internal affairs by some NGOs and civic organisations bent on trying to sway public opinion against the Government.