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Isdore Guvamombe Reflections
Back in the village, in the land of milk, honey and dust or Guruve, village elders say a man who brings home a maggot-infested log must not be surprised when lizards visit him.

Today I am going after the NGOs, this huge monster that claims to be the beginning and the end of human rights, justice, good governance, democracy and accountability, but instead has caused untold anxiety and suffering of many people in this country either through commission or omission.

The practice of controlling NGOs that are financed from abroad is widely used in different countries all over the world. It is so significant that some of the countries even take radical measures such as banning them at legislative level. Zimbabwe has been different and too tolerant of some nonsensical NGOs. Well, Zimbabwe is an interesting country! There is a multifarious array of non-governmental organisations that religiously claim to represent us in our broad totality. This villager is biting the bullet here and will not apologise.

In all the cases, these NGOs in Zimbabwe are funded from abroad by people with their sinister motives and, unfortunately being in Africa, the majority of NGOs are funded by former colonial masters or individuals and institutions that have a direct link with the colonial master or colonial thinking.

Their story is not a Zimbabwean story but a European narrative, a story that sees things through Western European eyes, never a village perspective. The European narrative is dangled as a carrot to our gullible people until they go for it hook, line and sinker, then regurgitate the story, again and again, even against themselves.

Right now our people have forfeited their right to benefit from teeming wildlife, because NGOs have campaigned against it. Their homes, their crop fields, their gardens and even people have lost limp and life from wildlife attacks. These NGOs are also in mining, in investment and deep into politics. They are all over.

When Cecil the Lion was killed in Hwange, we saw outsiders mourning more than the bereaved. It was a European story, the villagers whose cattle were killed systematically by Cecil for more than a decade, were never given a voice. The money raised by Cecil’s death was given to the NGO community and not the villagers who endured long exposure to Cecil’s death canines, who lost their livestock and suffered discomfort. So who benefited?

Today, Zimbabwe is sitting on more than 70 tonnes of ivory that it cannot sell, because animal rights NGOs have made it impossible for the country to trade in ivory yet. If sold, that ivory could have generated revenue for wildlife conservation.

Now, through false information provided by NGOs, Western countries have banned the importation of elephant and lion trophies from producer countries such as Zimbabwe.

The US, according to Environment, Water and Climate Minister Opah Kashiri-Muchinguri, has banned trophies hunted from Zimbabwe from entering the US and the European Union. Parliament is lobbying for the ban of wildlife trophies in Europe supported by a coterie of NGOs and some African countries with no wildlife to talk about. But Zimbabwe is sitting on 100 000 elephants, double its holding capacity.

There is no doubt that Zimbabwe is committed to sustainable utilisation of wildlife resources as opposed to protectionist/anti-use approach. The NGOs and their masters in Western Europe must acknowledge the financial challenges of developing countries such as Zimbabwe and that sustainable utilisation of wildlife is key to financing conservation.

Besides, there is no iota of evidence that trade bans have ever saved a species from extinction. Our people bear the brunt but the NGOs still think someone in Europe who has only seen wildlife on television is better placed to determine the destiny of someone who faces the wildlife live, every day. This is very stupid. It is idiotic. Lunacy! Taking into consideration the global practice, Zimbabwe should seriously consider working on a legislative and executional framework to protect its sovereignty and independence from foreign intervention, via NGOs. Most NGOs have done more harm than good to this country.

Zimbabwe will not be the first to do this: The first law on NGOs in the US (the Foreign Agency Registration Act- FARA-) was enacted in 1938. The law on Lobbyism, adopted in 1995, toughened control over NGOs who are lobbying for foreign governments’ interests against the USA.

In India, Israel, Ethiopia, Egypt and Algeria, among others, things are even worse as control of NGOs has been tightened since 2011.

By their actions, these NGOs have invited the wrath of many reasonable people and the Government and they must not be surprised if the Government of Zimbabwe starts cracking the whip.