By Beverly Bizeki
Zimbabwe’s ballooning public debt, now estimated at over US$21 billion, poses a serious threat to the country’s ability to achieve its Vision 2030 goals, the Zimbabwe Coalition on Debt and Development (ZIMCODD) has warned.
Speaking at the opening of ZIMCODD’s seventh edition of the annual debt conference in Mutare recently, Executive Director John Maketo said unless bold reforms were made to ensure debt sustainability, the country risks mortgaging its future development and sovereignty.
“If Vision 2030 is to be realized and not remain a poetic aspiration, then debt sustainability must become a national covenant. No loan should be contracted without scrutiny. Institutional and legislative reforms must become urgent priorities,” said Maketo.
Maketo called for Parliament, the Auditor General’s office, and civic platforms to play more active roles in overseeing public debt. He also demanded the immediate alignment of the Public Debt Management Act with the Constitution to strengthen legal safeguards against unsustainable borrowing.
He said ZIMCODD’s proposed roadmap to debt sustainability includes enhanced domestic resource mobilization, sealing illicit financial flows, and promoting citizen engagement in economic governance.
“We must commit to harnessing our own wealth from minerals to digital economies and seal illicit financial flows that robs us of development. We must engage SADC and the African Union to push for Pan African Debt Audit Mechanism and climate justice financing frameworks,” said Maketo.
He emphasized that citizen participation, including the involvement of academia, youth, and faith leaders was central to reshaping Zimbabwe’s debt narrative.
“Let us not merely beg for debt relief. Let us organize for debt justice, mobilize for equity, and legislate for sustainability invoking the Pan-African ideals of Kwame Nkrumah.
Maketo urged Zimbabwean authorities to adopt a bold, sovereign approach to global engagement.
“The shifting geopolitical order from a unipolar to a multipolar political and economic order presents Zimbabwe with opportunities to leverage on. The approach at the global stage is that we must enter into engagements not with bowed heads but with bold hearts and clear plans. We have all seen that when push comes to shove, the world retreats into self-serving interests, each country for itself, the camouflage of debt, trade and aid vanishes. We cannot rely on debt and aid anymore without high risks,” he said.
ZIMCODD board chairperson Rosewita Katsande, in her opening remarks, described the conference theme, ‘Sustainable Debt Management Towards Vision 2030’, as both timely and urgent.
“Our debt crisis deepens inequality by diverting resources from the poor, stifles private sector growth due to high borrowing costs, and threatens currency stability, with 97 percent of our debt denominated in foreign currency,” she said.
