HomeOld_PostsDonor funds vis-a-vis civil society greed

Donor funds vis-a-vis civil society greed

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By Tafadzwa Masango

THE opposition and its appendages have always argued the US Government had no quarrel with the Zimbabwean people, but was working hand-in-glove with ‘democratic forces’ to bring about change in Zimbabwe.
The famous statement by Chester Crocker urging Congress to make the economy ‘scream’ in order to alienate the majority of Zimbabweans from the popular ZANU PF and the imposition of sanctions by the US on Zimbabwe stand as measure of how low the US can go to exclusively further its interests.
ZANU PF and other former liberation movements have always argued the imposition of sanctions by the US was out of order and was causing unnecessary and unlimited suffering on the people of Zimbabwe.
The use of modern euphemisms such as ‘democracy’, ‘rule of law’ and ‘human rights’ in order to pursue its agenda against ZANU PF has seen the US falling into bed with unruly opportunists whose personal lives have no bearing on what they claim to stand for.
It is against this background that last week, Zimbabweans woke to the news that certain civil society groups and activists were no longer on the US payroll as it turned out that they have been stealing from the bottomless pit of US dollars known as USAID.
I cannot begin to fathom what has caused this about turn by the US given that, over the years, it has turned a blind eye to any and all infractions within the opposition circles.
Attempts to bring to book civil society elements that were siphoning money were hushed and all evidence swept under the carpet because reports of such misdeeds would have besmirched efforts to dislodge ZANU PF from power.
The likes of Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition (CiZC), #Tajamuka, Zimbabwe Election Support Network (ZESN) and ZimRights are but a few of the organisations where funds were misdirected for personal use by executives, but no action was ever really taken against the guilty parties because it would have been a public relations nightmare for the organisations and their donors – not to mention, ZANU PF would have had a field day.
One has to understand the huge investment the US has made in Zimbabwe’s civil society movements since the late 1990s.
I have previously indicated that most of the drivers of the regime change agenda in the US and UK have strong personal and business links to Zimbabwe.
Various US and UK officials who have been drivers of policies and the financing of political and economic destabilisation against Zimbabwe have business interests.
The shadowy figure behind OSISA, George Soros, has long been exposed for his numerous incursions on the continent, where he has worked with other Western parties in destabilising countries in order to reap profits.
In Zimbabwe, Soros owned the Plantation and General Company which controlled tea estates in Honde Valley.
That company was chaired by Rupert Rea, a Rhodesian who was once a deputy governor of the Bank of England.
Rea and Lord Renwick of the Zimbabwe Democracy Trust (ZDT) sat as directors on the Rupert family Richemont group which had assets in Zimbabwe.
Working together with the British, ZDT and the American National Endowment for Democracy (NED), Soros not only assisted in organising white farmers in Zimbabwe, but also in capacitating the opposition and civil society fronts for the regime change agenda.
In April 2007, OSISA sponsored an MDC delegation led by the late Morgan Tsvangirai to Washington DC to brief various institutions on the situation in Zimbabwe.
Tsvangirai’s delegation included Grace Kwinjeh, John Makumbe, Sydney Chisi, Lovemore Madhuku, Otto Saki and Akwe Amosu.
OSISA also funded Dr Douglas Gwatidzo of Doctors for Human Rights to give an eyewitness account of the March 11 2007 events to Congress.
For those not familiar with Dr Gwatidzo, he had an uncanny knack of mummifying his ‘opposition movement’ patients in bandages so they could be photographed and classified as severely brutalised.
However, most of these subjects usually miraculously healed after two-or-three days once the necessary political mileage had been gained from their alleged wounds.
In a paper titled ‘America’s Global Role’, Soros said: “I would like to see regime change in many other places.
I am particularly concerned about Zimbabwe, where Robert Mugabe’s regime is going from bad to worse.”
Civil society and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) focusing on human rights, rule of law and democracy became big business in Zimbabwe because they helped in setting up and directing a narrative.
The funding of most of these groups has been on the understanding that they would lead to exposés of ZANU PF’s ills and also push for the general acceptance that the MDC was the only way for Zimbabwe to be welcomed back into the community of nations.
Groups such as the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU), Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR), NCA, ZHRA, CiZC, ZESN, MISA and many others have been receiving funds from NED, some from as far back as 2000 for the purposes of ensuring the regime change project remained on track and also to complement efforts by the MDC.
A significant chunk of these funds went to organising media campaigns, which is where the ‘independent’ media came in.
Awareness campaigns and seminars on contemporary issues were the mainstay of most of these groups as they provided a treasure trove of sound bites and material for reports that formed the basis of anti-ZANU PF reports.
As the adage goes: ‘Monkey see, monkey do’, it was not long before many in the civil society caught on that they could get away with anything in order to please their funders.
Theirs was not a true quest for democratic change in Zimbabwe, and as such, they helped themselves to the funds and perfected the art of fabricating, doctoring and even stage-managing events in order to suit their paymasters’ demands.
The long and short of it is that projects were never carried out as seminars and workshops were held on paper only and funds were diverted to personal use.
Donors who have lost money to the unscrupulous brothers and sisters in the civil society business do not deserve any sympathy.
When you lie down with dogs, expect to wake up with fleas.
Anyone with a genuine cause in Zimbabwe’s prospects would never choose the route taken by most of these activists.
The fact that many are rabidly opposed to ZANU PF and played to the gallery in order to provoke a response from the authorities so as to receive payments stand testament to how depraved these so-called activists are.
Those I feel sorry for are the poor young men and women who, over the past two decades, vanga vachiitiswa marching and toyi toying on the streets for pittances of US$10 a day, while the clever ones in the offices were raking in hundreds of thousands.

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