Against the Odds: A History of Zimbabwe Project

6. Fallout – 1983: Governance

— 73 — The remarkable series of events presented in the preceding chapter constituted a struggle for control of Zimbabwe Project. Such a conflict inevitably involves issues of governance. If an organisation does not have strong and appropriate governance structures it can easily fall prey to manipulations by those who would bend it to their own agendas. Zimbabwe Project’s trials and tribulations during this period were partly due to governance structures inherited from the period in London that proved largely irrelevant to a changed role and context in Zimbabwe. There were three levels of decision-making – the Board of Trustees , the management/steering committee and the director. It is worth examining the roles of each to discover where the problems lay. The Board of Trustees had the responsibility of formulating policy and ensuring that it was implemented by competent staff. The initial trustees were based overseas, and when ZimPro moved to Zimbabwe they remained in place. One of them (Fr Amstutz) was no longer active, having moved to Mexico. Of the three Zimbabwean trustees, only Garfield Todd, who was deeply involved in the operations of Vukuzenzele co-operative, played any substantial role on a continuing basis. Their function was apparently to appear only where there was a pressing issue to be resolved; there were no regular meetings. Unfortunately , no minutes of any meetings during these years have been located, hence it is difficult to draw firm conclusions about this. The second level of governance was that of the management committee. It is not uncommon for trustees of a new organi6 Fallout – 1983 Governance — 74 — Against the Odds: a history of Zimbabwe Project sation to form a voluntary committee with executive powers while the organisation establishes itself and becomes sufficiently financially stable to employ full-time staff to carry out its mandate . In the case of Zimbabwe Project, even after effective staff were engaged in London, it was still important to involve stakeholders from Church organisations and other donors who would be expected to provide support, as well as representatives of the liberation movements with whom they would need to work. The nature of the activities was sensitive and it would be necessary to retain the commitment and trust of all. Retaining a management committee therefore remained relevant. In the changed context of operations in Zimbabwe, this committee struggled to find a role. Was it responsible for policy or for implementation? With the Project firmly established and with a full-time staff, it would seem unnecessary to retain a voluntary management committee. If it continued, it might well encroach on the functions of either the trustees or the staff, or both, or alternatively the members would simply lose interest and fade away. In the event, some members did drift away, while others wished to have a policy-making and management role. At the same meeting at which the three Zimbabwe trustees were officially appointed (October 1981), a new management committee was appointed. However, only Michael Behr and Tim Sheehy seem to have shown much interest. A year later, Sr Janice , Michael Lesai and Vivien Maeresera had become members, by what means and for what purpose was not clear, and all of them had strong ZANU connections. This could have been the reason for Todd’s response to Behr’s letter requesting a meeting in late 1982 – that the committee was only informal and would need to be formally constituted after the listed members were asked whether or not they were interested in being involved. In her letters to John Conradie,1 Sr Janice had reported a concern about the ‘autonomous’ decisions being taken by the director and administrator. Apparently she wanted this committee to have a role in the day-to-day decision-making. She complained again about the committee being a ‘farce’, its decisions ‘obliterated ’. Clearly, the struggle for control had started before March — 75 — Fallout – 1983 1983, with Sr Janice trying to make the committee a centre of power and Todd resisting. Perhaps she already sensed a plot in the making. Had it not been for the presence of Sr Janice and Michael Behr, the committee would doubtless have simply dissolved, an irrelevant relic of the past, but its nominal existence gave them an opportunity to try to impose their own views on the organisation. It is rather strange, too, that the individuals who tried to keep it alive were both foreigners representing...