Citizens urged to actively demand debt justice
Ratidzai Matumbura
Zimbabwe’s unsustainable debt situation and government’s decision to prioritise paying off external debts is set to pass the burden on to the taxpayers. There are also mounting fears that the decision will overlook critical social sectors like health, education and social security and that vulnerable members of society such as women are likely to be hardest hit.
It is against this background that Zimbabwe Coalition on Debt and Development (ZIMCODD) conducted a webinar which sought to buid the capacity of journalists, media practitioners, women, youths and people with disabilities to actively demand debt justice from responsible stakeholders.
Speaking during the virtual meeting hosted by ZIMCODD, Mr Joseph Tinarwo, a lecturer at Great Zimbabwe University, explained the concept of ‘odious debt’ and why it should have a public service delivery lens.
“Odious debt is incurred when government authorities use borrowed funds in ways that do not benefit the population and to the contrary, often use it to suppress the latter. Odius debt should include a public service delivery lens because it plays a critical role in addressing social and economic rights like water, education, health and food and nutrition and security for Zimbabweans,” he said.
Mr Tinarwo further examined the impact of odius debt on public service delivery and bemoaned failure by Zimbabwe’s government to service its external debts that has led to poor service delivery and the crippling of public sector investment projects.
“The mounting odius debt burden negatively impacts on economic growth and ultimately on the ability of government, especially local authorities, to invest in capital projects, infrastructure development and deliver public services.
The failure of central government to service its debt to the international financial institutions got Zimbabwe suspended from accessing development finance and this has had far reaching results on service delivery. The limited fiscal space as a result of odius debt constrains public sector investment projects,” he said.
Journalist, Daniel Chigundu spoke about the role of media, debt and inequality advocacy. He stressed that the irresponsible debt accumulation by government directly affects the media, youth and women who always have to dig deep to find alternative work in order to finance families and pay tax. Chigundu added that documents from government offices should not be too complex for journalists to unpack and inform the public factually.
Debt affects women more than their male counterparts. This is so because women have many responsibilities. Critical aspects such as health, education and security for the public are overlooked and this will mostly affect the women.
The youth are also affected by external debt as the poor management has led to too much borrowing at their expense since they are tax payers.
“When it comes to the media, the government and other responsible authorities have to simplify documents from the Auditor General and other offices so that it can be easy for media practitioners to play their role of informing the public. “said Chigundu”.
Several speakers deplored the government’s ballooning external debt and its effects on taxpayers. They asserted that borrowing money is not a bad thing in itself, but poor management is. They claimed that the poor management of funds has allegedly led to excessive borrowing at the expense of tax payers. Moreover, one of the participants invoked section 298 of the Constitution and called on all stakeholders incuding the government to adhere to the Constitution in order to avoid corruption and that people with disabilities must not be overlooked as they are also affected by the external debt.
The journalists, media practitioners, women, youths and PWDs present vowed to conduct awareness campaigns to actively demand debt justice, gender justice and youth justice from responsible stakeholders.
