Campaigners this week raised serious concerns over the devastating impact of corruption in Zimbabwe’s crumbling public health delivery system, intensifying calls for government to urgently restore order in one of the country’s most critical sectors.
The renewed pressure followed remarks by Transparency International Zimbabwe (TIZ) during the launch of its 2025 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), where it said for “people to access health services, there are a lot of illegal fees that are paid”.
Stakeholders say graft in the public health system manifests in multiple ways, undermining service delivery and deepening inequalities.
Sharing his views on the scourge, which was also highlighted by the Auditor-General, Community Working Group on Health (CWGH) executive director Itai Rusike said reports exposing financial irregularities and poor corporate governance within the Ministry of Health and Child Care must be addressed urgently if Zimbabwe is to achieve universal health coverage.
Rusike said the health sector suffers from deep-rooted governance failures that have jeopardised patient care.
“Corruption and misuse of resources remain endemic in the health sector, diverting much-needed resources away from health care delivery and reducing patient access to services. Examples include medical staff who divert drugs and spend more time in private practice when they are supposed to be working in public hospitals. This has led to unacceptable long waiting times, poor service delivery characterised by insufficient drugs,” Rusike said.
“Reports by the Auditor-General have exposed poor corporate governance practices and financial irregularities owing to weaknesses in the internal control systems in the Ministry of Health and Child Care and parastatals under the ministry. These need to be addressed as a matter of urgency for universal health coverage to be achieved in the country.”
Speaking during the launch of the 2025 CPI, TIZ director Tafadzwa Chikumbu warned of rising corruption across service delivery sectors, particularly health and public education.
- Measles outbreak looms in schools
- Laptops deal rile TIZ
- COVID-19 cases rising
- ‘Plug tender process loopholes’
Keep Reading
“Our research confirmed widespread corruption in that (health) sector. The same applies to the public education sector.”
Zimbabwe scored 22 out of 100 on the 2025 CPI — a marginal improvement from 21 in 2024 — but remains well below the sub-Saharan Africa regional average of 32, underscoring persistent governance weaknesses and limited accountability.
Rusike said government must re-prioritise health financing.
He added that the Health Services Commission must confront governance challenges decisively to ensure central government becomes the employer of choice for health professionals.
“The Health Services Commission must address the glaring management and governance issues and ensure that the employer of choice for all health workers is the central government as obtained in the past. Managing a professional workforce requires skill and capacity that we find missing in the public health sector and this largely accounts for the mass exodus of our highly-trained health workers to offer their young productive lives elsewhere.
“Furthermore, these workers require tools of the trade, which in turn must be effectively and efficiently managed, be they infrastructure, medicines, equipment, ambulances, service vehicles, and new technologies to make their work less tedious than it currently is.
“However, all this can be achieved if the government increases national budgetary funding for the health sector, which also comes with fixing the current constipated economic fundamentals,” Rusike added.
Johannes Marisa, president of the Medical and Dental Private Practitioners Association of Zimbabwe, echoed similar concerns.
“Corruption in the health sector manifests through informal payments, absenteeism, procurement fraud, and sextortion. Key drivers include poor working conditions and inadequate salaries for health workers. In countries with satisfactory remuneration, corruption is less likely,” Marisa said.
“Additionally, lack of transparency in procurement exacerbates the issue, compounded by weak accountability in governmental departments. To combat corruption, public education on ethical practices and encouraging reporting of corrupt activities is essential.”
Marisa warned that corruption has a direct impact on service delivery and health outcomes.
“Corruption is contributing to poor service delivery because those that do not have money; those that cannot buy their way into medical service are left behind and that automatically contributes to morbidity and mortality.
“You are compromising the quality of your service to our people because of this thing called corruption, where one ends up having short treatments because people are more interested in money than in service delivery.”
The Ministry of Health did not respond to a request for comment.
