Munyonyo — ZIMBABWE may soon reconsider the advisability of letting non-governmental organisations operate in the country as most of them are exceeding the terms of their registration by posing as shadow governments that threaten the viability of the inclusive Government, President Mugabe has said.

Addressing the Global 2009 Dialogue on the theme of "Inclusivity and National Visions" here, yesterday, President Mugabe took a swipe at the plethora of Western-sponsored NGOs in Zimbabwe, that now number an estimated 2 500, whose conduct, he said, left a lot to be desired.

"We have now a phenomenon of NGOs, or shall I call them phenomena for they really are a type of government in the background of a formal government?

"I don't know whether this creature is for the better or for the worse, but in our country we have seen a situation where they have exceeded, really, their terms of reference and perhaps we might have to reconsider the advisability of having NGOs," the President said to applause from the delegates drawn from various fields.

The NGO community in Zimbabwe has been accused of disrupting the recent All-Stakeholder People's Conference in Harare that saw some of the organisations led by the Lovemore Madhuku-headed NCA announce that they would hold their own constitutional convention as they "did not want constitution-making to be left to politicians".

President Mugabe took a swipe at the West for maintaining its illegal economic sanctions regime on Zimbabwe despite the fact that Zimbabweans themselves and their brothers and sisters in Africa had condemned the sanctions and endorsed the inclusive Government.

"We do not understand why the outside world should be more concerned than the African entities, the African Union, the various regional organisations we have. We do not understand the motives of those who continue to impose sanctions on us and this is affecting our ability to proceed with the turnaround, and even as we plan a way forward."

During Prime Minister Tsvangirai's recent six-nation tour of Western capitals to call for the lifting of the economic sanctions and restoration of Zimbabwe's lines of credit, Western governments made it clear that they would not extend any financial assistance to Zimbabwe.

They said the US$202 million they pledged was to be directed to the NGOs they sponsored as part of their regime change agenda.

President Mugabe, however, said despite this destabilisation, the inclusive Government was working well as shown by the Zimbabwean delegation that is made up of representatives of the three main political parties in Government.

"We had to come as an inclusive Government to this forum and demonstrate indeed that we are one, not out of a display but as a reality.

"We are now not just a single child of mother Zimbabwe, not even just two children, we are triplets and as triplets we move together. So there we are, and this is how we are working, very, very smoothly," President Mugabe said to applause and cheers from the delegates.

The Zimbabwean delegation has been hailed here for setting a unique example in Africa, particularly in a Great Lakes Region that has been plagued by internecine conflicts over the years.

Zimbabwe, the President said, was enjoying great peace and harmony and had never been at war but had quarrels and conflicts between its political parties.

Quarrels had negatively impacted on the economy and national vision document the country drafted and launched a decade ago.

"We in Zimbabwe worked on a national vision nearly 10 years ago and we called it Vision 20/20.

"It has run for some 10 years now, through difficulties, situations of difficulty, and the situations of difficulty have not made it possible for us to achieve the targets that we had set ourselves stage by stage towards the complete attainment of the totality of the objectives of the national vision."

Zimbabwe, he said, had, however, been fortunate that its national vision had worked alongside the national visions of others in the region who had helped the country withstand the Western onslaught of the past decade.

"Fortunately for us, we are in a context where our vision was working alongside the visions of others. We are a member of Sadc, we are a member of Comesa, we are a member of the African Union, and so what was our problem became the problem of Sadc, became the problem of the African Union, became a problem of all our members within that context, and in the wisdom of all of them, the proposal was that there should be an inclusive Government. So the idea of inclusivity is an important one," he said.

National visions can only thrive in an environment of peace and stability, he said, and in light of the measure of stability brought by the inclusive Government, Zimbabwe had since embarked on a new process of crafting a national vision document, a process being led by Deputy Prime Minister Mutambara, and which will also draw from Vision 20/20.

"National visions can only operate in an environment of political stability and peace. It is necessary to have that environment and then, of course, you must have the ability of the government plus other parties.

"It is not just the Government that drives things in Zimbabwe. Government is a facilitator, yes, but Government is also an actor. You have to consider the employers, the various entities, the workers, labour," the President said.

The leaders and delegates later jointly launched the Munyonyo Peace Hub at the conference centre here, with each leader and former leaders receiving a spear that was to be buried at the sight as a sign that they had chosen peace over conflict.

Host President Yoweri Museveni said the Munyonyo Speke Resort had thus been consecrated as a ground for peace and all the feuding parties in Africa were welcome to use the ground to find each other.

President Mugabe, in his capacity as Head of State and Government and Comesa chairman, is today scheduled to address delegates on the topic, "Achieving Global Equity Among Regional Trading Blocs", that he will tackle together with the host and patron of the 2009 Dialogue, President Museveni.