BY KUDAKWASHE TAGWIREYI CITIZENS in Action Southern Africa (CIASA) has raised concern over rising inequalities in the country, which it says are affecting the delivery of social services.
In a statement yesterday, CIASA said the country had also been affected by weak public finance management systems that had resulted in low-income earners living in poverty.
It called for the government to adequately fund the health and education sectors in order to effectively deal with the issue of inequalities in the country.
“The Dakar Framework for Action (2000) recommends a threshold of 15% of the national budgets of signatory States but Zimbabwe has been significantly under-budgeting the education sector, a factor exacerbated by the austerity policies which cut government expenditure on social services since 2017 November,” said CIASA.
“The COVID-19 pandemic has also resulted in many students dropping out of school, with very few potential candidates for the benchmark examinations. This will have a negative progression in the literacy rate.
“The already faltering health system that was overstressed by the COVID-19 pandemic which was characterised by a brain drain of health personnel due to poor remuneration and has led to a disproportionate doctor to patient ratio in Zimbabwe and has denied citizens of some basic and requisite health attention resulting in many dying of preventable and easily curable illnesses,” it said.
CIASA said corruption had crippled local authorities, leaving them without the capacity to deliver services.
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