Source: US$191m boost from airtime, sugar tax – herald
Zvamaida Murwira
Senior Reporter
THE health sector is set for a major boost following Treasury’s collection of more than US$191 million from airtime and sugar levies last year that will go towards the procurement and installation of cancer machines at central hospitals.
President Mnangagwa has set priorities to ensure the health delivery system is attended to so that it adequately serves the populace.
Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion Minister Professor Mthuli Ncube said more than US$144 million was also collected in 2024, with the process of procuring and installing the cancer equipment at Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals at an advanced stage.
He said this in the National Assembly during the question-and-answer session on Thursday.
Mbizo Member of Parliament Mr Corban Madzivanyika had asked Prof Ncube how much Treasury had collected from the levies.
“On the special excise duty on airtime, in 2024, we collected an equivalent of US$114 857 827,” said Prof Ncube.
“In 2025, we collected US$132 390 188. I must hasten to say that the 2025 figure is still going through an audit process. It is a ballpark figure. The law mandates the Treasury to take 50 percent of the airtime levy and pass it on to the Health Fund for funding the Ministry of Health. We passed on US$57 428 911 in 2024 to the Health Fund. In 2025, we passed on US$66 195 094 again to the Health Fund.
“I now move on to the special tax on the sugar content in beverages. In 2024, we collected US$29 169 209. In 2025, we collected US$59 416 884. Again, these are preliminary figures, subject to verification and audit. Since he requested the total, in 2024, the total from these two is US$144 027 036. In 2025, the total is US$191 807 072.”
Prof Ncube said although there was a delay in procuring and installing cancer machines, there was progress being made.
“It has taken time for the Ministry of Health and Child Care to organise things and to make sure that they are ready to receive these cancer machines,” he said.
“The process of acquiring these machines from abroad has taken quite a while, but I am happy to report that they have reported to me that they are making progress.
“They will start the installation at Parirenyatwa Hospital and then remove the current machine from Parirenyatwa and hand it over to another hospital, which is desperate for this older machine.”
Prof Ncube said it appeared the process of acquiring and installing the cancer machines took time in terms of the required technical work.
“The same thing applies to Mpilo Hospital,” he said. “The orders are on the way and the installation will occur. Again, that machine will then be packed up and sent to some other hospital.
“It just looks like the process of acquiring and installing these machines takes time in terms of the technical work that is required. I am not an expert in that. I also take that as given, but the resources are for cancer machines. We are also happy to cover cancer drugs as well. We are making very good progress.”
Prof Ncube said the country was registering significant progress in the health sector.
“We are making progress in carving out funding for the health sector,” he said. “We are a leader in Africa by far. I repeat, Zimbabwe is a leader in Africa by far in thinking of ways to fund our health sector.
“Air time levy, sugar content and beverages tax, gambling tax, AIDS levy and other things. AIDS levy is a world-class example of how Zimbabwe has led the world in dealing with that scourge and other countries are copying us. So, I can assure Hon Madzivanyika that while he is concerned, he should sleep well knowing that we are a leader in this area.”
Prof Ncube told legislators that Zimbabwe was making significant efforts towards reducing its debt, both domestic and external.
Chipinge South MP Mr Clifford Hlatshwayo had asked for an update, saying that since they were told of the Staff- Monitoring Project (SMP), nothing further came from the Government.
“We did announce that we had reached a staff level agreement with the IMF (International Monetary Fund), which then paved the way to fine-tune and finalise the final agreement, and I signed the letter of intent yesterday (Wednesday),” he said.
“So, it is all under control, and we will be moving towards implementing the Staff-Monitored Programme. We have already met various conditions and precedents to that arrangement, so I think that we should not have any challenges implementing an SMP.”
Prof Ncube said the SMP was part of the architecture for negotiating a debt relief programme.
“It happens under what we call the standard approach or the traditional approach. So, once we have a successful SMP, we then deal with the external debt,” he said.
“The standard approach involves identifying what we call a bridge funding provider or champion, who will then give us a 24-hour loan. Before that, what you need is what you call a set-aside from the African Development Fund, which is the soft window of the African Development Bank (AFDB) and also from the AIDA, which is the soft window of the World Bank.
“That set-aside, to the order of US$2,5 billion, or supplemented by other resources, is what is needed to pay back the provider of the 24-hour loan of US$2,5 billion.
“So, we expect to be at that stage, I would say, in the second quarter. Next year, we should be able to then deal with the arrears, at least from the World Bank and the AFDB, which are large indeed.”
Prof Ncube said progress had been registered about a debt owed to the European Investment Bank, which was considering writing off penalties and interests.
He said the next phase would be to deal with the Paris Club.
“Once you have done that, you move to phase two. Phase two involves dealing with the Paris Club,” he said.
“We have to get into what you call the Upper Credit Tranche Level Programme with the IMF, which means they will be able to give us money directly to finance our budget needs.
“When we start implementing that programme, we then negotiate with the Paris Club to restructure the bilateral debt with the 17 Paris Club partners.
“By the way, we are already paying them tokens, which is a sign of goodwill. We want to be good debtors, rather than bad debtors.”
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