Why Harare doesn’t need more disaster funding

Any Covid-19 donations to the Zimbabwean Government would allegedly be pocketed by the ruling Zanu-PF and used to fund repression. That’s the view of analyst Thandekile Moyo who notes that the cholera outbreaks of 2008 and 2018 and Cyclone Idai in 2019 saw government calling for foreign donations. Writing in the Daily Maverick, he says Covid-19 has presented another opportunity for the government ‘to rake in foreign currency’. ‘Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube laments that unless there is a dialogue on how to clear Zimbabwe’s arrears and a plan to re-engage Zimbabwe, the country will suffer a health and economic catastrophe. Ncube projects that Zimbabwe’s already shrunken economy could contract by a further 15-20%. He confesses that already 8.5m Zimbabweans (half the population) are food insecure, health services are inadequate and poverty levels are increasing. He says Zimbabwe needs $1bn in 2020 to finance spending for health, education, food security and social protection.‘ Moyo argues that Zimbabwe’s economic problems are caused by ‘unabated criminality and impunity’. 'Zimbabweans must take responsibility and bear the burden of freeing our state from capture. This is something that cannot be outsourced,’ Moyo adds.

Full Daily Maverick analysis