The NGO Coordinating Council says it
is deeply concerned with the statement issued by former African Nation Congress
(ANC) Flats Tenants Committee insinuating that Women for Change is involved in
a fraudulent purchase of the property.
According to a statement issued in
Lusaka today, Board Vice Chairperson Mary Mulenga said the statement was
malicious and damaging to Women for Change and the entire Women’s movement as
it insinuates that the actions of the organisations are at the expense of the
deprived and poor women that they are supposed to serve.
Ms. Mulenga added that the purchase of
the real estate was for the benefit of those they serve because the good work
has to be sustained beyond donor financing.
“We would like to state publicly that
there is nothing sinister about an NGO owning property”, Ms. Mulenga said.
She said it was unfortunate that
tenants were personalising the purchase of the ANC flats by the NGOCC Member
organisation Women for Change.
She said the act is totally uncalled
for and further added that Women for Change like any other NGO is legally
registered under the laws of Zambia and obliged to submit returns to the
registrar of Societies.
Ms. Mulenga has further disclosed that
the organisation has learnt in dismay that the same tenants are not as innocent
as they portray.
She said the tenants have not paid
rent in the past ten years even when the courts of law asked them to pay
through the courts pending the resolution of the case, while some of them have
been subletting the flats for years.
Ms Mulenga said as the umbrella
organisation, it has been closely following the issue of Women for Change and
the ANC flats over the last 12 years and have been eagerly waiting for the
matter to be finalised in the courts of law.
She said personalising the issue will
not help hence she has asked Chifumu Banda and Company, ANC lawyers in Zambia
to issue a public statement on the matter.
ZANIS
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