By A Correspondent-Zanu PF has made its first move in its clampdown on non-governmental organisations (NGOs), with the Harare metropolitan provincial development co-ordinator (PDC) Tafadzwa Muguti ordering civic organisations operating in the capital to report to him.
Muguti has summoned all directors of NGOs and private voluntary organisations (PVOs) to pay a courtesy call to his office, claiming that some of them were operating outside their mandates.
Government has on several occasions threatened to deregister civic society organisations (CSOs), accusing them of dabbling in politics and being hostile to President Emmerson Mnangagwa and his ruling Zanu PF party.
In a circular to NGOs, CSOs, PVOs and faith-based organisations yesterday, Muguti ordered them to submit work plans for the rest of this year. He demanded that they provide him with information on workshops and other operations they would be conducting within the province.
Muguti also ordered the organisations to provide monthly reports and other information on their operations by July 9, 2021.
“It has been noted with a high degree of concern that any organisations operating in Harare Metropolitan province, in particular NGOs, have been straying from mandates stated in their respective memoranda of understanding (MOUs),” Muguti said in a circular dated June 30 seen by NewsDay.
“Suffice to say that such behaviour represents a breach of memorandum of agreement and should not be manifested further.
“In view of the foregoing, all non-governmental organisations are hereby directed that operations and clearance of NGOs is now domiciled with the provincial development co-ordinator. All NGO country directors are also invited to a courtesy call with the provincial development co-ordinator and the Minister of State for Provincial Affairs and Devolution (Oliver Chidawu) for formalities.”
He, however, did not state the constitutional provisions that give him the power to summon the NGOs.
In 2019, High Court judge Justice Loice Matanda-Moyo ruled that district administrators had no business in the operations of NGOs.
Several directors of local NGOs confirmed to NewsDay that they had received Muguti’s circular yesterday, but some said they were failing to comprehend his dictates.