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Government should address the governance crisis not phantom allegations
Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition
November 06, 2007

The Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition is perturbed by the uninformed allegations leveled against the organization by the Minister of Information and Publicity Sikhanyiso Ndlovu, in today's edition of The Herald, 05 November 2007. In the article, the Minister made false allegations that Crisis Coalition's South African Office is engraved in corrupt practices.

The allegations are unfounded and malicious, aimed at soiling the name of the organization and discrediting the organization from pursuing its human rights and governance advocacy work.

However, the Coalition will not be bothered by false accusations by a Minister whose office presides over the violation of freedom of information through the banning of five newspapers and will continue to perform its national and regional advocacy activities in line with the mandate bequeathed to the organization through the membership.

The Coalition is in possession of the current financial audit reports which the Minister could have requested in order to make an informed comment before making unsubstantiated allegations meant to discredit the organisation. The audit results indicate that the financial injection and expenditure are in line with the international standards of accounting.

It is the firm belief of the organization that the minister's misplaced allegations will not be followed up with other extra-legal moves by the government, which has a well documented history of coming up with trumped up charges against its perceived opponents as way of silencing them.

The Coalition views this as a calculated move by the government of Zimbabwe of cracking down on dissenting voices in the country before the 2008 elections. However, Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition will not be threatened by such malice. It will continue to execute its work until the twin crisis of legitimacy and governance is resolved.

Minister Ndlovu should be advised that one way of silencing the Coalition would be to repeal obnoxious laws such as the notorious Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA), Public Order and Security Act (POSA), Interception to Communications Act (ICA) among others which are still in place. Raising phantom allegations will not return the country to democratic legitimacy that is urgently need to rescue this country from ZANU PF misrule.

As long as the electoral process remains under the armpits of the executive and regulated by the afore-stated restrictive laws, the Coalition will continue to mobilize and advocate for the leveling of the electoral landscape and other issues related to democratic rule such as the observation of the rule of law.

The Minister should know that Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition ("the Coalition") was originally conceived in August 2001 as a collective response to the multi-faceted crisis facing the nation. Its mandate is to broadly cover socio-economic and political aspects of the crisis. In particular, the Coalition was founded on the belief that the resolution of the broader national crisis is inextricably intertwined with the resolution of the governance and legitimacy crises. The organisation does its business using best practices in corporate governance that mirrors the new Zimbabwe that we struggle to realise.

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