GCN boss Betty Makoni embezzles donor funds

Girl Child Network boss Betty Makoni

 

Betty Hazviperi Makoni the Girl Child Network (GCN) boss is said to be in United Kingdom after misappropriating donor funds that she amassed for the upkeep of desperate girls in Zimbabwe.

The employees of the well known Girl Child Network boss are living from hand to mouth after going for several months without pay.

Some Zimbabwe reporters who visited schools in Chitungwiza where Betty Makoni used to help school girls were met with a lot of complaints that the network boss had neglected them.Some of the school girls are no longer going to school due to lack of funds for school fees. 

 "The money for GCN school children   was paid last term but this term  nothing has been paid.Lor ey payments f US$30 per child were also not paid and the children would have to pay on their own.This year also GCN decreased th enumber of children who they were paying for from fifty to twelve," said a teacher at Farai Primary School  in Chitungwiza.

When reporters visited the GCN headquaters in Zengeza 4 they were met by a few workers who were also frustrated that they have been waiting for their boss's return to no avail. 

 "All the money comes from Betty Makoni but if she is not here to fund the project there is nothing that we can do. We are about to close this afternoon so that we go home. Betty is our boss and she deserted us a long time .She doesn't even know how the project is going on now.Our case now is being looked into by the National Employment Council (NCE)",said a GCN employee 

At Girls At Risk Support Unit (GARSU), one of GCN's branches in Unit F,Chitungwiza  the employees shared the same sentiments of neglect.Some of the employees exposed how Betty Makoni was had misused donor funds.

"We are getting peanuts and also the names being used by Betty to source donor funds are false  .She is bringing in her relatives' children and meeting their  school requirements whilst neglecting the genuine children who need help desperately" said a GARSU employee.

Some employees complained that they had gone for years without a salary increase and  some Senior Management Team employees  had decided to resign after being accused of trying to take over Betty's position. 

The Senior Management Team includes former journalists,lawyers and accountants who had joine GCN hoping to have  better salaries.

Some parents interviewed said their suffering children gave Betty Makoni all the fame that she is enjoying now,and they are pained that she ran away and  is in hiding in the UK.

When reporters visited Betty Makoni's house in Vainona they saw eight cars.

Last month  Betty Makoni is said to have sent four people in the middle of the night  to her personal assisitant to take away from him  a laptop,a car,a printer and a cell phone.Apart from the fact that GCN has  a manager  Alexio Manyangadze,Betty Makoni is in control of everything.

The employees said Betty Makoni writes them emails instructing them on what actions to take ,pertaining to hiring and firing employees.

Our reporter attempted to call Betty Makoni but failed to get through .

Betty Makoni is a well known girl child activist who has won awards that incude the World Children's Prize for the Rights of the Child in 2007 ,an  Amnesty International award and a Ginetta Sagan award for Women's and Children's Rights in 2008.