GOVERNMENT has been castigated for diverting resources meant for critical services such as health and education other non-essential sectors at a time the country’s education and health sectors are in the doldrums.
By Fadzai Ndangana
In the 2021 budget, Treasury allocated ZWL$ 54.7 billion towards the health sector, translating to 13 percent of total budget, 2 percentage points below the Abuja Declaration threshold.
Speaking at a virtual Tax Justice and Gender Responsive Public Services Summit this morning, Education Financing Specialist Tapfuma Jongwe said the 2 percent intermediary transfer tax introduced by government in 2018 for the purposes of raising funds for health and education sectors is being spent on other sectors.
It is of note that when the intermediary money transfer tax was introduced, Prof. Mthuli Ncube said it was to support health, education, and other social services, but it is now being diverted to infrastructure development,” said Jongwe.
He said this has resulted in poor remuneration of Health Care personnel which is causing a massive brain drain in the sector.
Herbert Chibvongodze, a researcher said fundsbeing generated from natural resources should be channelled to fund these critical sectors such as education and health.
Zimbabwe’s health delivery system has severely deteriorated due to shortages of medical equipment and drugs.
For the greater part of 2020, public health care professionals were on an industrial action over inadequate equipment, unsafe working conditions and poor wages.
A high number of nurses and doctors in the public health care sector have made an exodus to different countries in search for greener pastures.
