NGOs come to the rescue of govt

Standing in the middle of a long, winding and slow-moving queue of nearly 200 people, it would be several donkey years before Ruzvidzo is served.
Ruzvidzo lives in a section of Whitecliff, born out of the rubble of the government’s 2005 Operation Murambatsvina, an exercise that destroyed illegal structures in urban centres, but ended up courting the wrath of the international community.
The area has no health facility, running water, electricity or school despite having been touted by the ZANU-PF government four years ago as being part of the solution to the country’s housing problems.
As the economy crumbled late last year, Ruzvidzo lost hope as his health kept deteriorating. But hope of recovery from his lung-eating disease rekindled with the formation of the inclusive government that opened up the floodgates for humanitarian aid.
Every Wednesday, volunteer doctors visit Whitecliff to offer free medical services attracting dozens of poor urbanites from surrounding areas including Dzivaresekwa, Kuwadzana and Tynwald.
While Ruzvidzo is receiving free medication in Whitecliff, Tariro Mhaka was purchasing medication for a sick child at Kuwadzana Council Clinic at a cost of US$3 while the same is going for US$20 at a nearby pharmacy.
When Mhaka asks the nurse why the medication is cheaper at the clinic, she points to a sticker written in yellow reading: “Help from Germany”.
In an interview with The Financial Gazette, Mhaka says: “Our life is better now and the improvement in life in the past months has been as a result of the help from donors and NGOs (non-governmental organisations) not necessarily from the government. Nothing meaningful has come from the government.”
As Mhaka walks home, she is vindicated. A truck stops on the roadside and starts dishing out free buckets and tablets, in United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) sachets, to treat drinking water as a measure to help fight a cholera epidemic, which has killed more than 4 000 people since its outbreak in October last year.
Exactly a year ago, this scene was unimaginable after President Robert Mugabe’s government banned all operations by NGOs during the run-up to the violent June 27 presidential run-off saying they were using aid to campaign for the larger faction of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC-T) headed by Morgan Tsvangirai, now the Prime Minister.
The blanket ban left many people without hope of receiving medical help or food, but everything has changed now following the formation of the inclusive government between President Mugabe of ZANU-PF and Tsvangirai.
Over the past months, ministers from the inclusive government have taken turns to tell Parliament that they are waiting for NGOs to provide essentials meant to be provided by their ministries.
On May 13, Higher Education Minister, Stan Mudenge, told the House of Assembly that the government was unable to sink six boreholes at the University of Zimbabwe, which has been closed since February amid fears of a cholera outbreak.
“However, I have good news for the House. We approached UNICEF and it has been kind enough, they are now going to drill six boreholes at the University of Zimbabwe,” Mudenge said.
On June 17, Deputy Justice Minister Jessie Majome told the august House that while it was government’s duty to provide for prisoners, they are depending on NGOs to perform the ministry’s statutory requirements of providing food, uniforms, blankets, cups and plates for inmates.
“We have invited serious NGOs to make contributions,” Majome said. “So far, the International Red Cross has started assisting some of the prisons with basic necessities. Some NGOs have expressed their willingness to assist in these areas.”
With Zimbabwe’s citizens increasingly seeing their survival in humanitarian agencies gaining momentum as opposed to the bickering parties in the inclusive government, Economic Planning and Investment Minister, Elton Mangoma, during a tour of Western capitals with the Prime Minister, was convincing investors at a mining conference in London last week that efforts by the coalition have seen the country’s production capacity rising and unemployment declining.
“When we (the inclusive government) came into office in February, we had employment of six percent and capacity utilisation of less than 10 percent,” Mangoma said. “Our production capacity has now gone up to between 20 and 30 percent and employment is now around 15 percent, and those who are employed are a lot more secure because they can see that the companies are a lot more steady.”
Bulawayo-based chartered accountant Eric Bloch, however, said he doubted Mangoma’s assertions on employment figures saying no meaningful jobs had been created as companies were still reeling from last year’s hyperinflation.
He added that although the economy was in rapid decline last year, there has been a slow movement towards economic recovery.
Political analyst John Makumbe said there is now relative peace in the country following a period he said was characterised by pain, suffering and disenchantment last year.
He, however, said nothing much may come from the inclusive government as there is a strong possibility that the MDC-T, whose ministers boycotted Cabinet on Monday, would ultimately pull out of the inclusive government if outstanding issues arising from last year’s Global Political Agreement are not resolved.
The outstanding issues include the appointment of provincial governors as well as the heads of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe and the Attorney-General’s Office.
“There is a strong possibility that the MDC would pull out of the inclusive government. There have been no reforms up to now. Only a few things have been implemented. It is possible that they can pull out,” said Makumbe.
And for the ordinary man on the street like Ruzvidzo, Makumbe’s views bring no joy but memories of doom and gloom of the past decade.