THE non-governmental organisation (NGO) Forum is known for its regime change agenda.
That it is engaging in terrorising state institutions masquerading as a ‘justice’ for children is therefore not surprising.
It is so reminiscent of Morgan Tsvangirai’s heyday that you can almost touch that blanket of darkness that Tsvangirai desperately sought to engulf Zimbabwe in.
Tsvangirai was defeated and will not rise again, but this message is still to sink in the minds of NGO Forum fortune-seekers.
When the Government of Zimbabwe directed that schools should not send pupils home on the issue of fees, the purpose was to alleviate the plight of families who have every right to educate their children, but do not have sufficient means.
Some parents have been paying in instalments, others have not paid and have huge debts.
Some parents owe schools as much as US$2 000.
In certain instances, schools are collectively owed as much as half-a-million dollars and yet they have soldiered on, have fought to sustain respectable institutions for our children.
They have understood and supported the Government in its effort to help every child.
Students have not been sent home, neither have they been harassed; they have pursued their studies in peace.
Students have been left to go ahead with their Ordinary Level examinations, despite owing thousands of dollars, thereby completing their four years of secondary education against all odds.
A success story?
Yes!
But whenever something special happens, those who do not wish Zimbabwe’s success are riled.
Like the NGO Forum.
It has found a viper’s nest in those few parents who do not wish to be responsible, who wish to default permanently.
When parents who are in debt wish to collect the exams results, what the parents and schools agree is that there should be a sign of goodwill. Parents should offer a payment plan which is agreeable to both parties, preferably preface this with a small first instalment.
So the good-will of the government, the schools and parents goes full circle and harmony prevails and with harmony, peace.
But then there are those parents who cannot even be happy with this scenario, and they go to their ‘comrades-in-arms’ against the Government of Zimbabwe, the NGO Forum’s Justice for Children Trust who then write draconian letters to schools and when these letters of intimidation do not achieve the purported results, they carry out intimidation in person, trespassing with impunity in schools notwithstanding that schools are state institutions and should be treated with the respect they deserve.
They threaten to haul the heads to court, encourage parents and students not to co-operate with the schools and Government and to make a nuisance of themselves at the schools.
When the heads stand their ground, they are insulted and the NGO Forum gloat and glory over their harassment of schools on their News Bulletin on the internet.
What is so typical of these NGOs is their disdain of state institutions, their anger and belligerence at every successful step that the Government of Zimbabwe takes, which of course stems from their bitterness that Tsvangirai lost, because only Tsvangirai’s government of betrayal is what would be legitimate to their sell-out agenda.
When a parent does not approach the school at all for ‘O’ Level results, when that parent owes the school US$3 000, when the same refuses to make a payment plan like so many other parents, but instead goes to the NGO Forum with the claim that the ‘rights’ of his or her child are denied, the school is withholding the child’s results and the NGO Forum without any prior discussion of the issue with the school simultaneously forwards two letters of threat and demand to the school, something ugly has been threatened and it rears its sinister head.
And when these two letters are followed on the very same day by a delegation of four to confront and intimidate the head, then there is no rule of law.
In Zimbabwe we do not operate like that, we do not overrun state institutions because our regime change agendas have failed to work.
The enemies of Zimbabwe cannot thrive if there is peace and harmony.
That is why they want to spread fear and consternation, using high-handed tactics and intimidation to create havoc.
They first failed when they called for sanctions. The resulting impoverishment cost so much, but the government of Zimbabwe has been successfully mitigating the effects of these sanctions, and one such mitigation is in the reprieve given to parents and students for agreed-upon terms for payment of fees.
This did not please NGOs and their masters, but they still hoped the schools would face such hardships, they would not make it, that things would break down and this would backfire on this noble government policy.
They hoped the result would be that parents, students, schools would cry out against the Government of Zimbabwe, but it did not happen.
What NGOs and their masters have never understood is the ethos of Zimbabwe, that Zimbabweans thrive when they are called upon to sacrifice for their nation, for their people.
To foment rebellion by stirring social unrest is the strategy of NGOs. Zimbabwe’s schools are where we groom our citizens.
If they can get students to turn against legitimate Government institutions which have nurtured and educated them for little or no pay for four years, if they can get the students to be disdainful of a head who has made it possible for them despite such financial hardship, if they can get them to disrespect their Government which has made it simple for them despite severe financial constraints, if they can get such youngsters to indict their school and head for having been kind and understanding, then they will have succeeded in recruiting faithful disciples of regime change.
This is the genesis of the arrogant, belligerent, ungrateful, non-appreciative, rebellious, traitorous attitude of Tsvangirai which says: “Makatumwa nani, endai munoisungirira (Nyika) payaiva yakasungirirwa tigoisunungura isu.’
What these NGOs need to be told is: ‘Get out of state business.”
The education of Zimbabwe’s children is the business of the Government of Zimbabwe and its record in discharging this responsibility is unparalleled.
We are fully aware of the agenda of the so-called Justice for Children.
They are just a haven for malcontents — a viper’s nest.