Zimbabwe's National Association of Non-Governmental Organizations has described as "unfortunate" a report by Clerk of Parliament Austin Zvoma which blamed civil society groups for the disruption of a July 13 constitutional stakeholders meeting in Harare.
Reports quoted Zvoma as saying the Non-State Actors Forum paid more than 500 delegates to attend the conference without the knowledge of the event's organizers.
But many who attended the conference said militants of President Robert Mugabe's ZANU-PF paraty led by Youth Minister Saviour Kasukuwere and war veteran leader Joseph Chinotimba orchestrated the disruption which brought the proceedings to an end.
Last week Zvoma told reporters that the conference stumbled because Parliament's select committee for constitutional revision rushed the preparations.
NANGO Chief Executive Officer Cephas Zinhumwa told reporter Jonga Kandemiiri of VOA's Studio 7 for Zimbabwe that his group won’t lose any sleep over the clerk’s report.
He said the Non-State Actors Forum merely helped civil society delegates meet expenses when conference organizers failed to make reimbursements as expected.
The Movement for Democratic Change formation headed by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has also dismissed Zvoma’s report, saying everyone who was present on the first day of the conference knows that the disruption was orchestrated by ZANU-PF members.
