Freeman Chari's Citizens Initiative Walks Away From Chingwizi Classroom Project, Cites Bureaucratic Hurdles

According to Chari, Dr Pazvakavambwa requested that CI register as a Private Voluntary Organisation (PVO), a process that involves several additional requirements and considerable delays. He also instructed that CI channel its resources through the local Council.

After consulting with the CI board, Chari announced that the organisation would withdraw from the project and donate the materials already purchased to Chingwizi Primary School.

Below is Chari’s statement in full:

WITHDRAWAL FROM CHINGWIZI PROJECT

We are writing to inform you that Citizens Initiative has made the sad decision to withdraw from the Chingwizi project where we were hoping to construct classroom blocks.

This has been compelled by the bureaucratic handicaps we have faced in Masvingo province over a period of 5 months.

Before commencing the project we had 3 meetings with officials from Mwenezi RDC and the DA. They indicated that they welcomed the project, however, they asked us to get clearance from the Provincial Affairs & Devolution office in Masvingo.

We wrote to them in October. They gave us the clearance letter on November 6. Our understanding was that there was nothing else we needed after this except liaising with the School SDC on how to get the community manpower we needed.

We began delivering cement, bricks and stones to the school on November 18. We then received phone calls from the CEO and the DA instructing us to stop activities at the school until we have another meeting on 21 November.

The meeting was attended by the following
1. Mwenezi DA – Mr. Mutambara
2. Mwenezi CEO
3. Mwenezi HR
4. Mwenezi Council Chair
5. Mwenezi Public Service Commission
6. Mwenezi Ministry of Education
7. President’s Office Representative
8. Traditional Leaders’ Representative
9. Police DISPO
10. JOC representative

At the meeting, we made it clear that our work was non-political and non-partisan and that we did not want any political players to be involved.

As with other projects we have done across the country, only the School SDC and local leadership (Councillor and Chief) would help us coordinate the community for labour and other help.

The meeting resolved to allow us to continue our work and that on the 4th December, there would be the school meeting to site the block at Chingwizi.

On 27 November we received another call this time from Dr. Pazvakavambwa – Permanent Secretary in the Office of the President, Masvingo.

He wanted to meet us on 3 December in Masvingo. At the meeting, there were new conditions.

We were asked to register as a PVO, a process that has many other requirements and also takes a long time.

In the meantime, they asked us to channel resources through the Council. Both these conditions are hard for us to abide by given that we have no intentions of managing another entity.

Secondly channelling the resources through Council will create another layer of bureaucracy that we have no control over.

We have already established efficient ways to use the meagre resources we have. Roping in Council will balloon our expenses. We also will not be able to control and account for the resources of our donors.

The request for endless meetings has already forced us to burn through 12% of what we had raised for the first block.

After consulting with the CI board, we have resolved to withdraw from the project and donate the materials we had already purchased to Chingwizi Primary School.

Although we have been successful in working in other provinces, this is not the first time we have faced this. We faced similar issues in Masvingo Province when we wanted to do the Citizwean Clinic in January 2020.

We also had to give up on building a home for Mt Hampden kids in 2021. We had to withdraw from Gwelutshena School project in Nkayi in 2022.

It breaks our hearts to be unable to fulfil the wishes of our ordinary donors who put in their hard-earned money just so that the 662 children have a decent learning space. It was beyond our control and we tried our best. We Are Sorry.

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