THERE is a growing perception that a clique within government has made it its primary mission to make life unbearable for ordinary citizens.
Whether driven by bureaucratic indifference, fiscal desperation or sheer disconnect from reality, the result is the same: policies that squeeze the poor are crafted under the ambit of development.
Zimbabweans have long signalled that they can no longer breathe under the weight of an ever-expanding web of taxes, levies and user fees.
For rural communities — where livelihoods are fragile, incomes irregular and cash scarce — every additional dollar demanded by the State pushes families closer to the brink.
The latest assault on rural livelihoods comes in the form of the controversial per-capita development levy, now imposed on every rural resident — including infants.
Villagers say the levy is not only unjust but cruel, choking families that are already struggling to put food on the table.
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For many years, development levy was charged on a per-household basis, with landowners paying on behalf of their families.
That system recognised the realities of rural life, where households are large, incomes are communal and survival often depends on subsistence farming rather than cash transactions.
Late last year, however, villagers were stunned to learn that this long-standing arrangement had been discarded.
Under the new structure, every individual must pay — regardless of age, employment status or ability to earn an income. Rural district councils (RDCs) are now charging between US$1 and US$5 per person. While the figure appears modest on paper, it is huge in rural communities.
In households with five or more children — a common occurrence in rural Zimbabwe — the levy exceeds US$10 when parents are included. For families surviving on seasonal harvests, remittances or piecework, the opportunity cost of paying the levy is buying food or paying school fees.
The per-capita development levy policy signals a glaring failure to appreciate the lived realities of rural communities where cash is not a usual visitor.
To demand per-capita payments in such an environment is tantamount to State-sanctioned hardship.
There is no doubt that RDCs need resources to fulfil their mandates. Roads must be maintained, clinics serviced and water systems repaired.
But revenue mobilisation must be guided by equity, proportionality and compassion.
Development financing that deepens poverty is not development at all — it is extraction.
Council officials have sought refuge in section 96 of the Rural District Councils Act, claiming they were advised to implement the per-capita levy in line with the law. Yet this defence collapses like a colossus with feet of clay once scrutinised.
Section 96 makes a clear distinction between a land development levy and a development levy. A land development levy is assessed in accordance with the Third Schedule of the Act or, if directed by the minister, in the same manner as a rate.
This distinction avoids one-size-fits-all policies that ignore vulnerability.
Charging infants the same levy as adults with an income is not only morally indefensible; it violates the spirit, if not the letter, of the law.
More worrying is the silence on the part of the responsible ministry. If ministerial approval was granted, the public deserves to see it. If not, then councils must be stopped in their tracks.
There is an urgent need to interrogate this, lest a large constituency will be left behind as Zimbabwe moves towards attaining an upper-middle-income economy by 2030.
At a time when government rhetoric is saturated with promises of rural development, devolution and poverty reduction, policies such as this show that words and action are at variance.