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Is it ethical for the Government to seize so much from Zimbabwe's citizens whilst concurrently seeking international funds?
IBA Weekly Column on Zimbabwe - No 045
August 16, 2004

It is ordinary Zimbabweans, and particularly those living in poverty and with HIV/Aids, who, once again, are suffering most as a result of a cynical game of contradictory Government behaviour. On the one hand, the government is trying to lure foreign direct investment to the country, while on the other it is imposing a ban on foreign non-governmental organisations. On the one hand, it is applying to the Global Fund against HIV/Aids, while on the other, it is shutting down local programmes that provide support and care to people living with HIV and Aids. These obviously inconsistent actions reveal the degree to which the government is walking a tightrope - or, to use another common metaphor, trying to have its cake and eat it too.

The AIDS crisis in Zimbabwe is the most graphic and poignant demonstration of a wider situation prevalent in the country. The Government is failing its citizens by cutting key public services and denying them what most democratically run countries provide as a fundamental right. With NGOs being forced to cease operations in Zimbabwe, the people of the country have fewer and fewer options when seeking assistance to their plight, leaving them vulnerable and powerless.

Almost one quarter of Zimbabwe's adult population is estimated to be HIV-positive; just over a third of pregnant women carry the virus that leads to Aids. The Zimbabwean government applied to the Global Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria for 516 (or 218) million Zimbabwe dollars, according to various newspaper reports, to finance the Government's antiretroviral programme.

The application was turned down during the International Aids Conference which was recently held in Thailand. Zimbabwe's Health Minister, David Parirenyatwa, said the rejection of the application had been politically motivated and blamed the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) which has called for economic (though not humanitarian) sanctions to be imposed on Zimbabwe. 'This has resulted in a humanitarian proposal being turned down,' the Minister said.

However, the Executive Director of the Global Fund said while politics do play a role in deciding on applications, they form part of a broader package of considerations, including a government's fiscal policy and economic efficiency, as the Global Fund channels money through national governments. 'It does not help the people of Zimbabwe to pass money through channels which are not well worked out,' the Director told a reporter.

Without the money, Zimbabwe will not be able to expand its treatment programme beyond four urban hospitals in Harare and Bulawayo to reach rural areas. 'The government does not have the capacity to roll out the programme on its own and unless other major donors come in, it is going to be a major disaster,' a Zimbabwean Aids activist said, quoted by a news agency.

Yet, despite the Government's problems - not only financial - in coping with the Aids crisis, it is clamping down on church programmes that provide much-needed assistance to people living with Aids. According to a report by the organisation Sokwanele, several church-run Aids programmes have recently been forced to shut down, referring specifically to programmes in southwestern Zimbabwe run by the Catholic and Lutheran churches. In recent weeks, the district administrator apparently ordered the Catholic Archdiocese of Bulawayo to stop operating an Aids and orphan care programme. A few months ago he had ordered the same stop to a programme run by the Lutheran Development Services in the district. These organisations now need a certificate of registration in order to run these services. According to Sokwanele, the Archdiocese has been running its programme for 10 years without being required to register with the government.

Given the tense relations between the churches and President Mugabe's Government, as well as the Government's dogged efforts to control all non-governmental activities (including food distribution), it is hardly surprising that this clamp-down on church-run programmes is happening. One of Mugabe's most vocal critics is Pius Ncube - the Catholic Archbishop of Bulawayo.

In an effort to maintain a white-knuckle hold on power, the Zimbabwean Government has shut down, banned and harassed every group or organisation - whether political parties, foreign and local non-governmental organisations or church aid groups - which criticise or are perceived to criticise the current regime. Yet at the same time, the Government feels entirely justified in trying to lure foreign investors to bring money into the country and to apply to the Global Fund for monies to finance its own Aids treatment programme - never once apparently considering the contradictions inherent in these actions.

In this climate of systematic suppression by the Zimbabwean Government of the nation's democratic conventions and institutions - free speech, free press, NGOs, the Church, and a free and impartial judiciary - the consequences are leaving the ordinary Zimbabwean with a smaller number of establishments to turn to for assistance or redress. The people are left without access to basic amenities and voiceless. - And a people without a voice cannot be heard.

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