GOVERNMENT’S failure to account for public funds and prioritise essential services continues to expose the deep rot at the heart of Zimbabwe’s governance system.
From the unfulfilled promises of the sugar tax to the chronic neglect of education and the suffocating business climate, the pattern is unmistakable — mismanagement has become government’s default mode.
Human rights doctors have raised alarm over government’s apparent reluctance to release the proceeds of the sugar tax, which are meant to finance the procurement of cancer treatment machines.
Their frustration is understandable.
Cancer remains one of Zimbabwe’s biggest killers, claiming thousands of lives every year, yet the country’s major referral hospitals still lack basic diagnostic and treatment facilities.
The sugar tax was introduced with much fanfare in 2023 and touted as a major step in promoting healthier lifestyles while generating funds for cancer care.
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However, almost two years later, there is little to show for it.
After sustained pressure from health activists, authorities eventually admitted that by November 2024 they had collected US$30,8 million from the surtax on sugar-sweetened beverages.
That was nearly a year ago.
Since then, government has neither released updated figures nor announced the procurement of the promised machines.
It is inconceivable that by now, with collections continuing each month, the total amount has not at least doubled.
Yet, there has been complete silence about where the money has gone.
Such opacity breeds suspicion — rightly so.
The public deserves transparency and accountability, particularly on matters that affect lives as directly as access to cancer treatment.
Sadly, this is not an isolated case.
The same indifference runs through almost every sector of public administration.
In the education sector, teachers have repeatedly condemned government’s failure to provide adequate funding and resources.
The results are visible everywhere: dilapidated infrastructure, overcrowded classrooms and demoralised teachers struggling to survive on meagre earnings.
The Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Education recently exposed government as the major saboteur of its sectoral policies.
According to the committee, as of March 2025, government owed US$72 million, including arrears under the Basic Education Assistance Module — a programme intended to help disadvantaged children access schooling.
That debt underscores the widening gap between rhetoric and reality in Zimbabwe’s public policy.
Meanwhile, the private sector, traditionally seen as the engine of economic growth, continues to suffer under a stifling operating environment.
Recent financial results from several listed companies paint a worrying picture: profit margins are shrinking even as sales remain strong.
The reasons are not hard to find: punitive taxation, excessive regulatory costs, unreliable power and water supplies, and a volatile policy environment.
Business leaders have repeatedly called for consistency and predictability in government policy, but their pleas have largely fallen on deaf ears.
Instead, new taxes and compliance burdens are introduced almost every other quarter, leaving companies with little room to reinvest or expand.
The cumulative effect is a sluggish economy that fails to create enough jobs or inspire investor confidence.
Across all these examples — health, education and business — one thread connects them: a government that refuses to be accountable, that treats public funds as its own purse and prioritises patronage over merit.
Citizens have grown weary of endless excuses, empty promises and a culture of impunity that has taken root at every level of governance.
If the sugar tax funds are, indeed, being used as promised, government must publish a detailed report showing how much has been collected and how it has been spent.
Anything less would confirm the growing suspicion that the so-called health levy was never about public health at all, but merely another scheme to squeeze struggling citizens dry.
Zimbabwe cannot continue down this path.
Accountability and good governance are not optional — they are the foundation upon which a functional society is built.
Until government begins to respect its own citizens by being transparent, responsible and responsive, it will remain the embodiment of everything that is wrong with Zimbabwe.