These groups provide food and other vital necessities to the most
vulnerable. Bob Muchabaiwa, programmes director for the umbrella National
Association of Non-Governmental Organisations, said they serve a wide cross
section of the poorest, most marginalised people. This includes young
orphans, abused children, those living with HIV/AIDs, the disabled, widows
and the elderly. For many the suspension of services is a matter of life or
death.
Muchabaiwa said the country has 1.4 million AIDS orphans, the majority of
them supported by NGOs and according to UNICEF more than 10,000 children
were displaced by the recent election-related violence. Over 80% of the
population is unemployed and they need accommodation, food, medical
assistance and much more.
Zimbabwe recently received support from the Global Aids Fund and it is
predominantly NGOs that distribute vital ARVs to those living with HIV and
Aids. Muchabaiwa said: “If you skip your ARVs for a month then try to start
up again, you may develop a stronger more deadly strain.”
NGOs were not given a chance to present their side of the story and
Muchabaiwa believes that the government should have appointed an
investigating officer and afforded them an opportunity to respond to the
allegations that they are helping the MDC. In his speech at the Food Summit
in Rome this week, Mugabe repeated the allegations claiming that the NGOs
are ‘a creation of the West’. But it is Mugabe and his government who
destroyed agriculture by illegally evicting commercial farmers.
The United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and
Emergency Relief Coordinator, John Holmes, on Friday said the ban ‘goes
against fundamental humanitarian principles’. He added: ‘Humanitarian
agencies are guided by the principles of neutrality and impartiality, their
mandate being only to alleviate the suffering of people in distress,’
Meanwhile the EU Humanitarian Aid Commissioner Louis Michel called on
Zimbabwe to immediately lift it’s ban on aid organisations. Michel is quoted
as saying: “I am deeply distressed to think that hundreds of thousands of
people who depend on aid from the European Commission and others for their
very survival, now face an even more uncertain future.”
SWRadio Africa
Post published in: Opinions