Crisis accused of squandering $2m donor funds

The Coalition is a broad-based civil society network of over 72 organisations that include churches, women’s organisations, social movements, residents associations, labour unions, human rights lawyers and health professionals.

It was formed in August 2001 to focus on human rights, democracy, good governance and sustainable development.

Following the recent resignation of Dewa Mavhinga as chairperson, disgruntled members told The Zimbabwean that the coalition, hit by funding problems, might disintegrate if no urgent action is taken to redress it internal crisis. At least 10 affiliate organisations have left the coalition recently.

They alleged that the boardroom fight centred on the personalities of Mavhinga and McDonald Lewanika, the CiZC director – who is currently without a contract following the board’s decision not to renew it.

“Problems started when Dewa was in charge of the CiZC country office in South Africa. The office had become so vibrant that it overshadowed the mother office in Zimbabwe which Maki (Lewanika) headed. Dewa was making decisions without consulting Maki, and the director saw that as an act of insubordination,” said the leader of one organisation affiliated to CiZC.

The animosity between the two reportedly worsened when Mavhinga successfully lobbied the CiZC membership and landed the post of chairperson late last year.

“He immediately embarked on a campaign to undermine Maki and his secretariat, which he maintained was running the organisation like a kitchen cabinet stuffed with cronies. He was irked by lack of professionalism.

“To some extent he was right. It is well known that Maki awarded himself a hefty salary of $7,500 a month and had unlimited access to loans. He started a butchery business and bought two houses in upmarket suburbs. Dewa and his cronies are well known for their taste for expensive wines,” said the source.

A mere lodger

Lewanika dismissed the claims as baseless. “All this is speculative talk that has no grounding. As we speak, I am holding my latest payslip. My gross salary is $3,100 and I am a mere lodger at a flat in Mount Pleasant that is owned by Mrs Bere. I don’t own a butchery even though I at one time attempted to do that at the Mereki shopping centre in Warren Park (in Harare),” he said.

The matter came to a head in May when Mavhinga pushed for an external audit. The audit revealed several anomalies, among them failure to remit tax to the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (Zimra).

The numerous sources who met this reporter alleged that the Lewanika secretariat bought vehicles without going to tender, in defiance of the coalition’s procedure manual, and that senior members had been travelling for soccer matches to the UK using Crisis budget.

“Regarding the audit, Dewa was selective in his reference to the document. He cited certain sections in isolation as a way of giving the impression that there is a crisis. The truth, however, is that there is no crisis and the so called anomalies have been rectified,” Lewanika told The Zimbabwean.

One of the sources showed this newspaper communication that cut his salary from $7,500 to $3,100.

Recently, Mavhinga vowed that he would not renew Lewanika’s contract given the “unprofessional” manner in which the organisation was being run. But now he has resigned as chair. Those in the know say his current employer, Human Rights Watch (HRW), complained that his involvement in the coalition was tarnishing the image of the international watchdog.

“Maki and his colleagues wrote to Human Rights Watch claiming that Dewa was causing divisions in Crisis and urged its leadership to take action against him. HRW is understood to have brought pressure on Dewa, insisting that he must resign but he chose instead to leave Crisis,” said a third source.

Fake AGM

Lewanika enjoys support from much of the Crisis membership, even though some of the committees are firmly behind Mavhinga. He is also reported to be receiving the backing of several local donors and a major funder.

Following Mavhinga’s departure, the Lewanika camp is reported to have convinced Samukeliso Khumalo, a board member who resigned from the outfit on two occasions before, to replace the chair. She is reported to belong to the Lewanika camp, but those opposed to the move insisted that she could not preside over a “fake AGM” as she had not been properly endorsed.

The sources said Lewanika recently abused the organisation’s meagre coffers by booking members of the youth committee into a named local hotel for five days where they had access to a free bar and gobbled close to $4,000 on unbudgeted entertainment.

Reports were cooked

The sources also claimed that the Crisis leadership played an active role in Zanu (PF)’s electoral landslide victory last year. “Crisis received about $2 million from donors for the election campaign but most of it was abused for personal gain. The organisation claimed it was registering about 10,000 people a day when, in fact, nothing of that nature was happening.

“The reports were cooked. A lot of the guys now own fleets of cars and several houses from the funding received last year. In fact some of them did not want the MDC to win because they felt that it would push them out of business,” said one source.

The sources shockingly claimed that civil society in Zimbabwe was operating like a mafia whereby “black donors”, the local representatives of the major donors, were receiving 10 percent of total funding in exchange for approving project proposals.

“It is well known that the black donors have their darlings. You have to be friendly to them in order to receive funding. In our circles, we call it “kunwisa tea” (being given tea) whereby the local representatives of donors receive kickbacks for facilitating funding. We also call it tithing because they demand 10 percent,” said another source.

The claim could not be independently verified at the time of going to print.