‘We’re watching you’: Zim’s Mnangagwa guns for ‘hostile’ NGOs

Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa has vowed to deregister any non-governmental organisations suspected of plotting to overthrow his government, and boasted about how the state was spying on “people of interest”.

Speaking to war veterans, women’s affairs and youth leaders of Zanu-PF in Harare this week, Mnangagwa said he was aware of “hostile propaganda by detractors both inside and outside the country”.

He added: “There are lots of registered NGOs in the country and through the home affairs and social welfare ministries we are going to look at the mandate of each NGO. The minister of home affairs and social welfare will depend on you war veterans, youths and women party chairpersons to give them a list of NGOs operating in your areas. If we discover that an NGO is operating outside its mandate, it will be deregistered,” he said.

More than 1,000 NGOs registered in Zimbabwe operate in humanitarian aid, as service organisations, and in political governance.

They are registered as voluntary organisations (PVOs), trusts or common law organisations.

But it is NGOs funded through foreign agencies that are deemed anti-Mnangagwa.

The US, through its embassy in Harare, revealed that it had committed $19,3m through “trusted NGOs that provide health and humanitarian assistance directly to Zimbabweans”.

Zanu-PF claims foreign embassies stationed in Harare were behind planned July 31 demonstrations that were thwarted by state security arms.

Mnangagwa told party leaders that foreign embassies were pushing falsehoods against his government.

“There are foreign embassies in this country, they create false narratives against us as a government, against Zanu-PF as a party,” he said.

We know at this minute, you were at this place and who did you make a phone call to.

—  Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa

He also claimed his government was monitoring the phones of people of interest. These included people in NGOs and opposition party ranks.

“We know at this minute, you were at this place and who did you make a phone call to,” he added.

Two weeks ago a coalition of NGOs in Zimbabwe dismissed the government’s claims of a coup plot by the opposition and civic society as a ploy to silence critics.

This came after state security minister Owen Ncube accused the opposition of turning the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and church leaders against Mnangagwa.

“They have also attempted to cause Western countries, the SADC and churches to turn against government by making false allegations of human rights abuses. The negative forces have even gone to the extent of stage-managing abductions and propagating lies on social media,” he said.

But Crisis Coalition, a grouping of 87 NGOs, said his claims were “worrisome and a direct threat to activists who dare challenge the status quo”.

MDC Alliance treasurer-general David Coltart also scoffed at the allegations, saying the alliance was committed to non-violence. He drew a striking comparison of Ncube’s claim to one made in 1981 by Mnangagwa, then state security minister, when Joshua Nkomo’s Zapu was accused of attempting to overthrow Robert Mugabe just a year after independence.

What followed was a crackdown that resulted in the Gukurahundi massacres in which at least 20,000 civilian lives were lost in Zapu strongholds.