Civil Society organisations have criticised Midlands Provincial Affairs minister Larry Mavima for saying non-governmental organisations (NGOs) operating in the country should go and render their services in Ukraine.
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe that has been under constant shelling and heavy bombardment from nuclear-armed Russia since 24 February this year.
Speaking during a devolution meeting in Gweru at the weekend, Mavima said local authorities should de-register NGOs that fail to comply with restrictions on their activities.
Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum (The Forum) director Musa Kika said that the Government needs NGOs to operate successfully. He said:
The government is being short-sighted and is choosing perceived political expediency over livelihoods, economic well-being, strengthened governance and all that civil society represents.
We have no precedent anywhere in the world where the government operates successfully without civil society, bearing in mind that civil society is the people, citizens self-organising over issues of community and national importance.
There is no sustainability in what the government is doing, so the comments attributed to the minister (Mavima) are unfortunate.
Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition (CiZC) spokesperson Obert Masaraure said it is unfortunate that Zimbabwe has “misguided” people like Larry Mavima in leadership positions. Said Masaraure:
I think Mavima is highly misguided. It’s unfortunate that Zimbabwe has such people as leaders who say a country doesn’t need NGOs; a country with more than 7,9 million people living in poverty doesn’t need NGOs?
Even if you go to stable developed countries, they still have NGOs. He doesn’t appreciate the role of NGOs.
What Mavima doesn’t pick is that there is a lot of humanitarian work that is being done by NGOs.
They are feeding thousands of people who cannot afford to get a meal and are sending a lot of dropouts back to school.