Mnangagwa's regime should not try to profit from its own failures

In Zimbabwe, the suffering of the poor has been turned into a cash cow for the ruling elite.

This morning, I came across a deeply disturbing report claiming that the Zimbabwe Energy Regulatory Authority (ZERA) has resolved to impose a staggering US$100 monthly tax on households using solar energy. 

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If this turns out to be true - and, as we know from experience, most of these "unofficial" reports usually reflect decisions already made behind closed doors - then this constitutes not only a shocking policy failure but a troubling insight into the insensitivity and predatory tendencies of the Emmerson Mnangagwa administration. 

It reveals, once again, a government willing to squeeze every last cent from a population it has already plunged into devastating poverty.

What makes this especially outrageous is the fact that Zimbabweans turning to solar energy are not doing so out of luxury, opulence, or some sudden desire for green energy. 

They are doing so because the state itself has failed catastrophically to provide a stable, reliable electricity supply. 

Solar is not a lifestyle choice; it is an act of survival, forced upon millions by the government's own incompetence. 

And now, after creating the problem, the same government wants to profit from the very solutions citizens have had to find for themselves.

For decades, Zimbabwe has been crippled by erratic, unpredictable, and often non-existent electricity supplies. 

This crisis did not fall from the sky. 

It is the direct result of successive governments - including Mnangagwa's - refusing to invest meaningfully in new power-generation infrastructure, relying instead on colonial-era equipment that is now dangerously obsolete. 

Some of our power stations were built in the 1950s, yet there has been virtually no modernisation to match growing demand. 

For over 45 years, investment in energy systems has been criminally inadequate.

To make matters worse, rampant corruption within ZESA has ensured that whatever funds were available never made it to the intended projects. 

Zimbabweans have heard countless stories of executives siphoning money, inflated tender scams, payments for equipment that never arrives, and substandard infrastructure installed at inflated prices. 

Billions have vanished into private pockets. 

And while the politically connected enriched themselves, ordinary citizens and the economy bled.

The consequences are visible everywhere. 

Industries lose millions every month in spoiled products, halted production lines, and the high cost of diesel to power generators. 

Small businesses struggle to survive. 

Ordinary households are plunged into darkness for up to 16 hours a day - or, during the rainy season, sometimes for several days at a time due to damaged electrical infrastructure the government is too underfunded or too corrupt to fix.

Faced with this unbearable reality, Zimbabweans did what ordinary people anywhere in the world would do: they sought alternatives. 

Many made enormous sacrifices to buy solar systems - cutting back on decent meals, sacrificing school fees, postponing buying new clothes, or going without basic comforts for years just to save enough for a simple home setup.

For the vast majority, solar energy is not a luxury investment. It is an emergency response to a collapsing state.

A solar panel on a roof is not a symbol of wealth. 

It is a symbol of desperation and resilience. 

It is the silent testimony of a people abandoned by their own government.

Yet now, the same government - which created this crisis - supposedly wants to impose a US$100 tax on these households. 

Nothing could be more unjust. 

Nothing could better illustrate a leadership that has no empathy for its citizens and no sense of responsibility for its own failures.

We see the exact same story repeated in the water sector. 

Decades of mismanagement and corruption in local authorities and in agencies such as ZINWA have left major urban centres without running tap water for years on end. 

My own hometown of Redcliff has gone for years without a single drop coming out of the tap. 

Families have had to choose between sickness and starvation. 

Many had to dig deep into their pockets to sink boreholes simply to survive.

I remember my own family's experience vividly. 

We were far from wealthy, yet we had to save for months to raise the nearly US$3,000 required to drill and install a borehole - not because we were seeking comfort but because water is life. 

There was no alternative. 

There were no taps to rely on, no municipal service to depend on. 

It was either install a borehole or watch our lives fall apart.

And just as with solar energy, the government saw an opportunity not to improve people's lives but to extract revenue. 

ZINWA demands permits, inspection fees, and annual charges for something families built with their own hard-earned money - money they had to spend only because the state failed.

These are not wealthy people. 

These are pensioners, widows, the unemployed, and the struggling working poor. 

They have already borne the cost of the government's failures. 

To demand more from them is not governance. 

It is parasitic cruelty.

In any normal society, a responsible and compassionate government would be working tirelessly to make it easier for citizens to adopt alternative energy and water systems. 

They would be offering tax incentives, duty-free imports on solar equipment, subsidies for borehole installation, and supportive regulations designed to help households survive during periods of crisis.

But this government does the opposite. 

It punishes citizens for surviving.

The logic behind the suggested ZERA tax is absurd and insulting. 

To claim that the revenue will "help develop energy infrastructure" is a confession of failure. 

The state is admitting that decades of mismanagement have left it unable to fulfil its basic responsibilities, and instead of fixing the corruption or holding accountable those responsible for the mess, it has decided to burden the victims.

Zimbabweans must reject this mentality. 

A government cannot profit from the very suffering it created. 

Mnangagwa's administration must understand that citizens would not be installing solar systems or drilling boreholes if state institutions were functioning. 

And because these are not luxuries but necessities born out of state failure, taxing them becomes a moral crime.

What Zimbabwe needs is leadership that recognises the hardships of its people, acknowledges its own failures, and works to ease burdens - not leadership that views every citizen's attempt to survive as a fresh revenue stream. 

A caring government would be ashamed that its people must install their own infrastructure. 

A responsible government would be motivated to fix the underlying problems.

Instead, Zimbabweans are faced with a regime increasingly determined to exploit their desperation.

The Mnangagwa administration must be told clearly: you cannot collapse the energy sector, abandon households to darkness, force them to provide their own solutions, and then tax them for doing what you failed to do. 

That is not governance. 

That is exploitation.

Zimbabwe urgently needs leadership grounded in compassion, accountability, and a deep commitment to public service. 

Until then, ordinary citizens will continue carrying the burden of a state that refuses to do its job - and must now fight against a government determined to charge them for surviving its failures.

● Tendai Ruben Mbofana is a social justice advocate and writer. Please feel free to WhatsApp or Call: +263715667700 | +263782283975, or email: mbofana.tendairuben73@gmail.com, or visit website: https://mbofanatendairuben.news.blog/