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Herald Reporters
THE National Association of Non-Governmental Organisations should go beyond admitting the existence of sanctions to local journalists and approach its Western backers and tell them to remove the ruinous embargo, political analysts have said. Nango, the analysts said, was addressing the wrong audience and needed to lobby countries that imposed the illegal sanctions.
Nango chairperson Mr Paul Juru, whose organisation represents over 1 000 NGOs, made the admission last week, saying sanctions were part of a wider political agenda by the West.
The NGO community, he said, was willing to partner Government to fight the economic sanctions.
President of the Federation of Non-Governmental Organisations, Mr Goodson Nguni was, however, sceptical about Nango’s sudden U-turn.
“Nango has always been part of the regime change agenda in the country and they are now worried about what Zanu-PF can do to their operations legally now that they have a two-thirds majority in Parliament.
“They therefore want to appear to have turned a new leaf, while they find ways to pursue their regime change agenda in a different way.
“They are the same people that in the recent past did not want us to sell our diamonds and were very much part of the MDC’s regime change agenda that wanted to divide the country. Because of that, I call for a lot of caution in this sudden acceptance by the organisation of the existence of sanctions.”
Mr Nguni, however, said Nango’s admission would vindicate Zanu-PF’s position that the sanctions are real and hurt everyone.
Political analyst Mr Gabriel Chaibva said it was a good thing that Nango realised the devastating consequences of the economic sanctions
“But it’s not enough to speak to our local journalists. They must go to London, they must be in Washington, they must go to Berlin, they must go to Paris talking to their funders to remove the illegal sanctions.
“We don’t forget the fact that NGOs have been used and have been willing participants in backing the American government, the European Union and their white Commonwealth to continue with the illegal economic sanctions regime,” he said.
Mr Chaibva said Zimbabwe should not be hoodwinked by the creation of an impression seeking to convince its leadership of a changed and contrite civil society.
“We are now alert to the fact that it could be a tactic by the NGOs to seek relevance and create an impression of some kind of patriotism and in the process deceive us.
“They must speak louder than they are speaking right now and we will take them a little bit seriously. So the ball is in their court,” he said.
Political analyst Goodwine Mureriwa said the admission of the existence of sanctions by Nango should be seen in the light of the recently held elections.
“There is a realisation among the NGOs that Zanu-PF is no longer part of the Government but is the Government of the day,” said Mr Mureriwa.
“They have realised that after the party’s resounding victory they cannot continue to be antagonistic but rather complement it. There could also be a realisation by some of the NGOs that they were being used for a wider political agenda they were not part of.”
Mr Mureriwa added: “The problem is that some of the young people working for these NGOs are ignorant of the agenda of these Western nations. It is therefore also important that Government steps up education especially to the young people on how the West has used these NGOs to destabilise the country.”
He said the drying of donor funds to the National Constitutional Assembly before it morphed from a pressure group to being a political party was an indication that the West have their own agendas inimical to the country’s interests.
“The NCA thought the funding they used to get was because of the constitutional cause they were fighting but once they opposed their financiers all the funding was cut off,” he said.
He also called on Government to assist local organisations with funding to counter the efforts of the Western funded organisations.
University of Zimbabwe chairperson of the Department of Political Science Dr Charity Manyeruke said it was high time the NGOs realised that the sanctions had caused untold suffering to Zimbabweans.
“It is a realisation that sanctions have affected Zimbabwe particularly the economy and the fact that the US announced an extension of the sanctions regime after the holding of free, fair and credible elections could have caused this shifting in the mindset of the NGOs,” she said.
“They could also have realised that their continued denial of the sanctions was alienating them from the majority of Zimbabweans and that the drying of funding for most NGOs soon after the announcement of the results was an indication that the West had their own agenda after all.”
Dr Manyeruke said the refusal by the Western world to endorse the results of the elections when all progressive organisations and countries had done so could have resulted in Nango realising the true nature of the West with regards to Zimbabwe.
Western countries cut down funding for many NGOs in the country following Zanu-PFs crushing defeat of the MDC-T in the July 31 harmonised elections and questioned the party’s capacity to bring a return on their investments of the past decade.
A number of international NGOs which were on the forefront of pushing the MDC-T agenda are already downsizing in the wake of Western donor fatigue.
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