ZIMBABWE’S HOSPITALS HAVE BECOME GOLDMINES FOR THE CROOKS IN POWER
Something very strange is happening in Zimbabwe and no one in power seems interested in stopping it. Our hospitals are collapsing. People are dying from simple diseases. There are no medicines in stock. Doctors and nurses are struggling to survive while trying to save lives. The entire health system is broken. But instead of fixing it, Emmerson Mnangagwa and his inner circle are using it to make money. Big money. Almost one billion US dollars is now in play through health tenders and every major contract is going to people who are close to him.
It all began with a carefully staged Facebook post. Youth Minister Tinoda Machakaire wrote about visiting a hospital and being heartbroken by the terrible conditions. He said he was shocked and called on the President to visit hospitals to witness the suffering of ordinary Zimbabweans. Many people praised him for being honest but some of us knew better. This was not a genuine call for reform. It was a setup. A well-orchestrated stage play to prepare the ground for something much bigger.
Soon after the post, Mnangagwa began touring hospitals. He visited Parirenyatwa, Sally Mugabe Hospital and NatPharm. People thought he had finally woken up to the crisis. But behind the scenes, deals were already being cooked. Massive contracts were already being discussed. These were not contracts aimed at improving healthcare. They were designed to benefit Mnangagwa’s friends and business partners.
One of the biggest beneficiaries is Wicknell Chivayo. He was awarded a staggering 437 million US dollar deal to supply cancer equipment. His company, TTM Global, was barely a few months old. It is registered in South Africa and linked to Chivayo’s luxury penthouse in Sandton. The deal was never advertised. There was no open tender process. No one else was allowed to compete. This is pure corruption.
Another massive deal worth 300 million US dollars came from Belarus. Mnangagwa met with President Lukashenko and agreed to modernise Zimbabwe’s hospitals. This project includes medicines and equipment but once again, people close to Mnangagwa are involved. Businessman Kudakwashe Tagwirei is one of them. He did not even go to Belarus but he is reportedly the President’s main adviser on the project. Just a few days after Machakaire’s Facebook post, a closed-door meeting was held in Harare with Mnangagwa’s close allies to discuss how to fund these secret deals.
Then there is Tempter Tungwarara. Another friend of the regime. He was given a contract to fix hospitals without any public tender. His company, Prevail International, has no track record outside of government deals. He lives a flashy life and has been accused of fraud, unpaid loans and shady property deals. Yet Mnangagwa gave him a diplomatic passport and full support. His company is also behind projects like boreholes, housing for war vets and the 15 million US dollar wall around the new State House. All awarded without transparency.
These men are not fixing the health system. They are looting it. While patients die in dirty wards with no medicine, these politically connected individuals are enriching themselves. Mnangagwa is turning national suffering into personal profit for his cronies. Hospitals have become a cash machine for those in power. Tenders are being handed out without fairness. Prices are being inflated. Meanwhile the poor cannot even afford basic painkillers.
The truth is painful. Our health sector is no longer about healing. It has been turned into a corrupt business empire. There is no accountability. No fairness. No humanity. This is not leadership. This is theft. The people are dying. The elite is celebrating. That is why we must speak up. Zimbabwe’s hospitals must serve the people. Not the pockets of the powerful. Let us not be silent. Let us fight back. The hospitals belong to us. Not them.
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