Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOS) have come under attack from President Robert Mugabe who has accused them of financing a sustained campaign to get rid of him through unconstitutional means.
Addressing thousands of people at his 88th birthday celebrations at Sakubva Stadium in Mutare on Saturday, Mugabe said NGOs were burning the midnight oil to ensure he is not elected as the countrys next president in polls he wants held this year.
Over a thousand NGOs are working in the country and they come with stupid ideas and quite often they support one party, he said. They push foreign agendas through certain parties. This has been the situation in many other African countries but here in Zimbabwe we say no to that.
Zimbabweans can manage to run and manage their country.
His renewed scathing attack on NGOs operations could increase pressure on the starving population currently surviving on donor hand-outs.
Recently Masvingo governor Titus Maluleke banned 26 NGOs from operating in the province accusing them of being unregistered with his office.
Most rural families are relying on donor aid and the politicised government-funded grain loan scheme owing to poor harvests in most parts of the country last season.
Mugabe attacked western-funded NGOs claiming their agenda was imperialistic in order to recolonise Africa.
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He then went on a tirade, accusing the drafters of the constitution-making process of trying to influence his exit from power. He also said Zimbabweans would refuse clauses that accommodated homosexuality.
Several foreign youth movements from Angola, Namibia, Sudan, Tanzania and South Africa attended the celebrations.
