The National Association of Non-Governmental Organisations (NANGO) has raised concerns about prevailing unrest in Zimbabwe, calling for an all-inclusive and holistic approach to end the national crisis in the country.
Development Diaries understands that scores of campaigners and protesters have been arrested in an expansive clampdown in the country.
And in a speech to the nation on 4 August, President Emmerson Mnangagwa declared that his government was facing ‘many hurdles and attacks’ and that ‘the bad apples who have attempted to divide our people and to weaken our systems will be flushed out’.
He added, ‘We will overcome attempts at destabilisation of our society by a few rogue Zimbabweans acting in league with foreign detractors’.
Reacting to the unrest in the country, the group of NGOs condemned the government’s iron-fist approach to addressing grievances of citizens, including the vilification of dissenting voices that are calling for the promotion of lawfulness, tranquillity, peace, equity, and fairness, inclusive and sustainable development, respect for human rights and constitutionalism.
‘The crisis is characterised by continued intolerance, polarisation, corruption, disregard for the rule of law, contravention of the constitution and marginalisation of vulnerable groups and communities, among other factors’, NANGO said in a statement.
NANGO urged the government to listen to alternative voices yearning for a better and prosperous Zimbabwe where everyone’s dreams and aspirations are possible.
‘The refuting of alternative voices and views demonstrated by the responses to the call by various concerned stakeholders and citizens does not project a nation that is accommodating and democratic, this undermines efforts to move towards sustainable peace and development’, the group added.
‘We believe that the national crisis needs an all-inclusive and holistic approach in addressing the myriad of challenges that bedevil the country’.
Photo source: Paul Kagame
