| |
Back to Index
Government
reads Riot Act on NGOs, tightens control-grip
National
Association of Non-Governmental Organisations in Zimbabwe (NANGO)
September 02, 2008
On 1 September
2008 the Zimbabwean Ministry of Public Service, Labour and Social
Welfare convened a general meeting of Non Governmental Organizations
(NGOs)/Private Voluntary Organizations (PVOs) to clarify operation
modalities with regard to the segmental lift of the suspension
of NGO/PVO field operations as announced on Friday, 29 August 2008.
Organisations
registered as Trusts were asked to leave the meeting that was chaired
by the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Public Service Labour
and Social Welfare and attended by representatives of the Zimbabwe
Republic Police, NANGO, United Nations and various Non-Governmental
Organisations. According to the Ministry Ostensibly the meeting
was to give to NGOs "a methodology of re-engagement and re-introduction
after the suspension."
The following
issues were raised during the meeting:
- That
the freeze of operations during the elections was in response
to reports that several NGOs were "operating outside the
terms of their registered mandates, some were not following operational
guidelines and some were dabbling in partisan politics".
It is for these reasons that the Registrar of NGOs Mr Mhishi noted
that "a number of NGOs will have to answer for their iniquities"
- That
the lift of the ban on field operations solely effected organisations
which were registered under the PVO Act and which were operating
in the following areas: Humanitarian assistance, food aid, relief,
recovery and development, family and child care and protection,
care and protection of older persons, rights and empowerment of
people with disabilities, HIV and AIDS treatment, care and related
support services. As such organisations registered under other
instruments e.g. Trusts, Networks etc. are not covered under the
lifting of the ban and would have to enquire with the respective
authorities with regard to their operational status or "whether
or not they can operate"
- That,
Organisations will have to operate in line with the Policy
on Operations of Non Governmental Organisations in Humanitarian
and development Assistance. According to
the Registrar "anything outside the Policy will not be tolerated."
Key aspects
of the Policy highlighted during the meeting include:
- NGOs
should primarily complement Government in service delivery by
working through existing structures. Accordingly, NGOs will not
be allowed to create parallel structures.
- NGOs
should not take advantage of emergencies to advance their own
agendas
- Government's
position is that able-bodied individuals should only be assisted
through public works programmes as opposed to free handouts.
- All
NGOs wishing to operate in a specific area must first get Memorandums
of Understanding from the relevant Ministry
- All
NGOs must submit quarterly narrative and financial reports to
the Ministry of Public Service Labour and Social Welfare
-
That NGOs/PVOs are mandated to display their Certificate of Registration
under the PVO
Act in all their offices. According to the Registrar this
is so as to "allow those who are enforcing the law to do
so . . . to let authorities know who you are and that your ban
has been lifted". Also that "no one will come and
say we do not know what you are doing here."
- That
the "Policy on Operations on Non-Governmental Organisations
in Humanitarian and Development Assistance in Zimbabwe -
announced by Ministry of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare
in July 2003 - were still operational, will be enforced
and would have to be complied with;
- That
a new monitoring and evaluation instrument for NGOs/PVOS in form
of an extensive questionnaire asking for details on programs,
budget profile including information about donors and sub-donors,
food in stock, directors in charge etc. which would have to be
submitted electronically to the Ministry until 21st of September
2008 - Failure of timely submission would result in organizations
being "Candidates for Deregistration"
- That
the a meeting of all Government agencies has already been held
to clarify issues surrounding the suspension of NGOs
It is NANGO's
considered view that the new requirements essentially operationalise
the contested NGO Bill of 2005, at a time when Zimbabwe requires
positive State - Civil Society relationship to address the
devastating humanitarian conditions in the country.
NANGO laments
the fact that the lifting of the suspension is selective and excludes
thousands of Organisations either registered as Trusts or Universitas
as well as organisations registered as PVOs but not doing humanitarian,
development or welfare work.
Given the critical
role that NGOs must play in this current environment characterised
by economic collapse, social distress and humanitarian crisis; NANGO
therefore urgently calls upon the Ministry of Public Service Labour
and Social Welfare and other state parties to create a conducive
environment for Civil Society to assist the millions of suffering
Zimbabweans. Such a lasting solution will necessarily involve far
reaching reforms not only to the laws governing the operations of
NGOs but the entire democratic and human rights infrastructure in
Zimbabwe.
Visit
the NANGO fact
sheet
Please credit www.kubatana.net if you make use of material from this website.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License unless stated otherwise.
TOP
|
