Editorial Comment: Where are the other NGOs? This file picture shows stranded families at Chingwizi holding camp who have largely been given a cold shoulder by the Zimbabwean NGO community
This file picture shows stranded families at Chingwizi holding camp who have largely been given a cold shoulder by the Zimbabwean NGO community

This file picture shows stranded families at Chingwizi holding camp who have largely been given a cold shoulder by the Zimbabwean NGO community

Reports that non-governmental organisations have ignored the humanitarian emergency facing more than 3,000 families displaced by flooding in the Tokwe-Mukosi basin in Masvingo province are very disturbing.
According to reports less than five NGOs are active at Tokwe-Mukosi. The reports also indicate that out of the 90 NGOs registered under the National Association of Non-Governmental Organisations (Nango) in Masvingo, only the Red Cross, Christian Care, Bhaso and Masvingo United Residents and Ratepayers Association have extended help to people at Chingwizi holding camp.

The camp which is in Mwenezi district, is home to more than 3,000 families displaced by the Tokwe-Mukosi floods. Most of these families are facing shortage of accommodation and food. The core business of NGOs, we have over the years been made to believe, is to implement programmes meant to improve people’s welfare.

The bulk of resources mobilised by NGOs should therefore be directed towards humanitarian assistance. President Mugabe has since declared the Tokwe-Mukosi a state of disaster to enable government and NGOs to co-ordinate and mobilise resources to assist the affected families.

We therefore expected many NGOs to have responded to the flood victims’ distress calls and not just the five that have so far responded. The big question that begs an answer is — where are the other NGOs? It is a fact that NGOs have over the years received millions of dollars purporting that that money is meant to assist the needy in Zimbabwe. Who then in Zimbabwe are the needy if victims of disaster such as victims of the Tokwe-Mukosi are not?

More than 2,500 NGOs are reported to be operating in Zimbabwe and after the Tokwe-Mukosi flooding was declared a state of disaster, we expected the area to be flooded by NGOs. The challenge which government should be facing now is co-ordinating the operations of these NGOs to avoid duplication.

We do not want to believe, as has been alleged before, that most NGOs mobilise resources from donor countries purporting that the resources are meant for humanitarian assistance when infact they have ulterior motives. Many NGOs have been accused of misusing donor funds. There are numerous cases when NGOs have used donor funds to buy luxury cars for their executives at the expense of the intended beneficiaries.

Some NGOs have also been accused of diverting resources to fund political programmes that are totally divorced from their terms of reference. Failure to respond to disasters such as Tokwe-Mukosi or flooding in Tsholotsho, Matabeleland North province, has exposed some of these NGOs. It is clear that some of these NGOs that are purporting to be doing humanitarian work are in fact meddling in the country’s political affairs. It is time such NGOs are sniffed out because they have no place in Zimbabwe.

NGOs should be complementing government efforts to uplift the people’s standard of living. NGOs’ resources should fund development projects such as building schools, clinics, bridges, dams, establishing irrigation schemes and many other such projects.

We however do not want to paint all NGOs with the same brush as some of them have over the years done a lot to improve the people’s welfare. We have a number of projects funded by these NGOs that have impacted positively on the people’s lives. The under privileged such as orphans, widows, people with disabilities and child-headed families have benefited immensely from these NGOs. It is those that have deviated from what they are supposed to do that continue to give NGOs a bad name.

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