Lodge Complaint At United Nations Headquarters, Says Zimbabwe Diplomats

Zanu-PF delegation to the ANC Policy Conference, Professor Jonathan Moyo, ANC National Executive Committee member Winnie Madikizela Mandela and Senator Monica Mutsvangwa pose for a photograph on the sidelines of the conference ending June 29, 2012., a photo by Pan-African News Wire File Photos on Flickr.

Lodge complaint at UN headquarters, say diplomats

Tuesday, 23 April 2013 00:00
Takunda Maodza Senior Reporter
Zimbabwe Herald

ZIMBABWE should lodge a formal complaint with the United Nations in New York after its agency, the United Nations Development Programme, was implicated in funding regime change non-governmental organisations in the country in violation of provisions of the UN Charter.In terms of the UN Charter, the UNDP should channel all development assistance through Government, but documents in our possession show that the agency secretly funded hostile NGOs such as the Zimbabwe Election Support Network and MDC-T’s elections directorate disguised as Election Resource Centre to the tune of over US$5 million since 2009.

Diplomats who spoke to The Herald on condition of anonymity, however, laid the blame on Western nations that bankroll UN operations, saying these nations were using their financial muscle to abuse the and its agencies.

‘‘The UNDP is just a vehicle through which donor countries channel development assistance.

“We have seen these Western powers abuse the UN to achieve their designs throughout the world, the latest being Libya where they stretched a no-fly zone resolution to not only invade the country but depose the government and kill the president.

‘‘This was all done under cover of the UN, this may be the case with the UNDP here,’’ the diplomat said.

Ambassador Christopher Mutsvangwa, who was Zimbabwe’s ambassador to China, concurred.

“We want an international order that is fair and democratic to everybody.

“The UNDP is an agent of the UN and its budget does not come from the UN. It comes from well-wishers.

“It is being abused by those well-wishers to serve their interest in a ‘who is paying the piper calls the tune’ style.

“The intention is that of the funder. We must lodge a formal complaint with the UN general assembly as this is the abuse of the UN charter,” he said.

Cde Mutsvangwa said this should come as a lesson that we should mobilise our own resources to fund elections.

“Choice of national leaders and Members of Parliament cannot be outsourced to third parties. This is a core process. Elections can only be funded from the country’s resources,” he said.

Zanu-PF Politburo member Professor Jonathan Moyo said the UNDP had disqualified itself from involvement in any electoral process.

“Zimbabwe must draw the attention of this misconduct to Sadc, the African Union and the UN itself. Zimbabwe is a member of the UN.

“There is a rotten apple in the UN system. It means the UN itself has been compromised by its local office in particular and its political office in general,” Prof Moyo said.

The UNDP, he said, “has been caught with pants down” sponsoring regime change outfits such as Zesn which have ties with the MDC formations.

“It is also one of the major NGOs that the UN team was insisting on consulting. Insisting on consulting their proxy.

“There is nothing else Zimbabwe needs to do than withdraw its request (for election funds) and insist on the sovereignty and the Constitution to be the only guiding principle,” Prof Moyo said.

Mr Godwills Masimirembwa said it was unfortunate that the UNDP was reducing itself to a political player, going against its mandate and values.

“It is unfortunate that the UNDP is now involved in funding activities which are contrary to the spirit of the UN, activities that seek to illegally destroy a legitimate Government.

“This is why it becomes difficult for Zimbabwe to trust the UNDP to fund elections.

“It is clear that there has been an ulterior motive. Their intention is to effect illegal regime change rather than to achieve free and fair elections.” he said.

Mr Masimirembwa said the UNDP must not be allowed to play any role in the country’s political processes.

Mr Gabriel Chaibva said the whole scenario explained why the UNDP put stringent conditions, which amounted to interference in the country’s internal affairs when Government made a request for electoral funding.

“This is a violation of the founding Charter of the UN. The UNDP thoroughly discredited itself. Its behaviour also buttresses our lifelong argument that we, as a sovereign people, must be able to find internal solutions to our internal challenges on our own. It is appropriate that the Government of Zimbabwe declare the UNDP persona non grata,” he said.

Our investigations have shown that between March 2009 and April 2015 this year, Zesn received US$5 043 044, 69 from the UNDP, Canadian Embassy, Norwegian Embassy, the Royal Dutch Embassy, National Endowment for Democracy, Electoral Reform International, and Osisa among others Western institutions.

The UNDP country office denied involvement in the activities though the financial paper trail says otherwise.