Muguti yesterday said government would unleash law
enforcement officers on NGOs, PVOs and civic society organisations (CSOs) that
continued operating despite the ban. Only 40 NGOs will remain operating in
Harare following Muguti’s action.
Yesterday, Muguti published the names of the organisations
that submitted their credentials to his office, giving them the greenlight to
continue operating, but under his office’s regulation.
The organisations include ActionAid Zimbabwe, Plan
International, Caritas Zimbabwe, Goal Zimbabwe, Youth Advocates and Helpline
Zimbabwe among others. Several human
rights organisations are not part of the list.
Muguti last month wrote to all NGOS, PVOs and CSOs ordering
them to report to his office, a move viewed by NGOs as intended to clamp down
on them.
In the letter, he ordered the NGOs to submit monthly work
plans of their intended activities and summoned directors of the NGOs to his
office.
Two weeks after Muguti’s order, his counterpart in
Masvingo, Jefta Sakupwanya also summoned NGOs operating in the province and
ordered them to report to him.
But NGO representatives yesterday insisted that they will
not comply with Muguti’s directive, claiming that his office was established
outside the dictates of the Constitution.
The Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum, Crisis in Zimbabwe
Coalition, ZimRights and youth organisations among others, told Muguti that
they would not report to him because his directive was ultra vires the
Constitution.
“The enlisted NGOs have been permitted to conduct their
operations within Harare Metropolitan province subject to complying with the
outline procedures,” Muguti said in a statement.
“Those that failed to comply with the request on June 30,
2021, shall with immediate effect be stopped by law enforcement from conducting
any operations whatsoever until they fully comply with the policy, in
particular obtaining a resolution from the provincial development committee and
recognition by the Minister of State for Provincial Affairs and Devolution.”
A coalition of 10 youth CSOs recently wrote to Local
Government minister July Moyo imploring him to rein in his subordinates, vowing
that it would not take orders from Muguti.
On several occasions, the Zanu PF regime has threatened to
deregister NGOs accusing them of operating outside their mandates and/or
propping up the opposition.
Zanu PF acting commissar Patrick Chinamasa last month
accused CSOs of being sponsored by hostile Western powers to cause regime
change in the country.
President Emmerson Mnangagwa, while giving a state of the
nation address last year, said government would craft laws to regulate NGOs. He
also accused them of straying from their core business for which they were
registered. Newsday
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