Mutsvangwa points finger at councils for healthcare woes

Zimbabwe's Senate chamber descended into a heated debate on Tuesday as Zanu-PF spokesperson and senator Christopher Mutsvangwa pointed fingers at opposition-led urban councils for the country's worsening healthcare crisis, triggering a sharp exchange across party lines.

During deliberations on recapitalisation of public healthcare institutions, Mutsvangwa argued that the breakdown in service delivery cannot be viewed in isolation from the country's economic challenges and the effects of international sanctions. However, he placed considerable blame on opposition-controlled local authorities for their alleged failure to deliver adequate healthcare at the municipal level.

"The finger-pointing which is being done here in this House shows woeful ignorance about how the system of government works in this country," Mutsvangwa declared. "Urban areas, which have been run by the opposition for the past two decades, are just as responsible as the Central Government for providing health services."

He cited Wilkins Hospital in Harare, a municipality-run institution, as an example of how local authorities should have leveraged urban productivity to support better healthcare infrastructure. Mutsvangwa insisted that local authorities have failed to attract meaningful investment to improve services, indirectly worsening conditions in hospitals.

He called for unity and collaboration, stating: "If we can all pool our energies together, we can restore the health system of Zimbabwe."

Mutsvangwa's comments sparked immediate reactions from across the chamber.

Senator Maxwell Mdhluri painted a stark picture of the dire state of public hospitals. Recalling personal family experiences, Mdhluri told of how his grandmother received life-saving treatment after a landmine accident during the liberation war, only to later die from cholera due to lack of basic care in a modern hospital.

"Cholera just requires a drip, but my grandmother died because she could not get one," he said emotionally. "This is no longer about politics. It's about human life. If our hospitals stay in this condition, what kind of future do we see for ourselves?"

Mdhluri urged the government to capitalize on Zimbabwe's strong relations with China to secure more medical supplies, equipment, and training. He also cited the recent death of a karate player after a road accident as further evidence of a broken healthcare system that the public increasingly associates with death rather than healing.

"This is not a partisan issue," he said. "We need all Hon. Members of this House to put our heads together."

Senator Sesel Zvidzai echoed Mdhluri's sentiments, emphasizing that the Senate had long been raising alarms about Zimbabwe's health crisis. He proposed a countrywide assessment of provincial hospitals to better understand the depth of infrastructure decay.

He called for urgent reforms at the National Pharmaceutical Company (NATPHARM), especially to ensure that rural areas receive essential drugs and basic medical supplies. "We must map the state of dilapidation across our institutions to plan and respond effectively," Zvidzai said.

Despite political tensions in the chamber, the overall tone of the debate suggested growing consensus that Zimbabwe's healthcare crisis demands an urgent and unified response.

As hospitals continue to crumble, and with avoidable deaths on the rise, the Senate's debate underscored the need for solutions beyond partisan lines - with some senators calling it a moral imperative that should transcend political rivalry.