Opinion / Columnist
CSOs politicise Chingwizi issue
27 Jun 2014 at 09:33hrs | Views
The civil society organisations (CSOs) participated in the botched regime change project. Having failed dismally, the benefactors of these CSOs withheld their funding. This pushed most of these CSOs at the verge of collapse leaving them with no option but to hunt for any opportunity that will ensure their survival.
The Tokwe Mukorsi disaster and the subsequent resettlement of the victims at Chingwizi Holding camp could not have come at a better time for them. It was a golden opportunity for the beleaguered CSOs to re-invent themselves.
They are politicising the Chingwizi issue to justify their continued existence to the donors. As much as the government is making some blunders in the way it handles the challenge at Chingwizi, the CSOs are exaggerating the situation to attract international attention.
On Thursday, an organisation that calls itself Coalition Against Corruption (CAC) gathered a handful of people at the Quill club to discuss the Chingwizi issue. It is to be seen if this little known organisation will live according to what its name preaches. CAC invited the vocal Raymond Majongwe as one of the guest speakers. We nearly had our eardrums burst when we listened to the hogwash from this vociferous speaker. I had really gone there anticipating that Dr Simba Makoni and Douglous Mwonzora were the speakers as advertised in the press.
It was the same old tune of blaming government and nothing new was really proffered. We were told that the women at Chingwizi are using leaves as sanitary pads yet we are reading in the newspapers about donations of that sort. In the run up to 2008 polls, the MDC and its foot soldiers in the civil society donated pads even to the 90 year-olds. Why are they not doing the same if the situation has become that bad?
I was surprised to learn that the CSOs are aware of the urgent needs of the Chingwizi people. Those people need food but the CSOs have been falling over each other donating clothes and other secondary stuff. The CSOs held some galas for people to donate any of their unwanted clothes including undergarments. The galas gobbled a fortune through adverts in the press, posters, hiring of venues and musicians.
If the CSOs were sincerely sympathising with the flood victims, they should have channelled the money they used in preparing the galas towards purchasing food for the same. That money could have bought a lot of food but they decided to expend that much just to get undergarments for the unfortunate community. It was a publicity stunt to grab donors' attention.
I am reliably informed that a number of CSOs are in Europe seeking donations for the Chingwizi people. Hopefully the donations will reach the intended beneficiaries. Of late, we heard of donations that ended up in the hands of workers of a political party. The political party had failed to pay the workers for several months.
The CSOs must proffer solutions to the challenge rather than lambast the government as if it invited the flood. Strangely, they did not blast MDC which actually invited another disaster in the form of sanctions. The CSOs must not forget the benefits that came along with the construction of the dam. The local people were provided with employment and infrastructure in the area. The CSOs must not forget the green energy that the country is to benefit from the dam construction as our energy challenges will be alleviated.
Source - John Sigauke
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