By Ndinatsei Mavodza
MASVINGO – Disturbing accounts of corruption and exploitation within Masvingo’s public health sector came to light during a transparency and accountability workshop organized by Transparency International Zimbabwe (TIZ) in partnership with TellZim News.
The event, titled “Strengthening Transparency and Accountability in the Health Sector: Addressing Corruption Risks and Enhancing Oversight Mechanisms,” held at Urban Lifestyles Hotel on November 13, provided a platform for residents to voice their struggles, revealing a pattern of alleged extortion and abuse by healthcare workers.
Presenting on Key Corruption Risks and Governance Challenges in the Health Sector, Masvingo District Medical Officer Retired Commissioner Doctor Godfrey Zimbwa confirmed that corruption was widespread in Zimbabwe and the health sector was not spared.
He highlighted issues such as resource mismanagement, absenteeism, abuse of authority, and weak oversight structures.
“Corruption in Zimbabwe’s health sector is widespread, manifesting as bribery for free services, theft and sale of essential medicine, and procurement referral kickbacks. This has led to a severe lack of trust in the public system and patients suffer from lack of access to quality care as per study conducted by Transparency Zimbabwe in 2021 where 74% of respondents were asked for bribe to access health services,” said Dr Zimbwa.
He said corruption manifested in various forms including bribery, theft and diversion of medicines, and referral kickbacks, leading to severe consequences including lack of trust, healthcare deprivation, patient suffering, and brain drain.
Dr Zimbwa outlined measures needed to combat the scourge, stating that community engagement was crucial as well as capacity building on both health workers and the public.
“There is need for community engagement, foster community participation in health care decision making and monitoring. Training and capacity building to educate healthcare workers in corruption and prevention.
“There is also need for independent oversight by establish independent bodies to investigate corruption and leverage on technology to enhance transparency,” said Dr Zimbwa.
He urged citizens to take proactive steps, emphasizing they should report corruption, utilise whistle blower channels, demand transparency by requesting information on healthcare services.
Dr Zimbwa also said the community needed to support ethical healthcare providers, monitor health care services, observe and report any irregularities.
The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) representative at the workshop, Prosecutor Tarisai Muvengi, revealed that while they receive numerous reports of health sector corruption, securing convictions remained challenge.
“As NPA we get several cases involving corruption in health facilities but faced the major challenge of evidence to nail the culprits. People report the cases but usually fail to bring evidence to prove beyond reasonable doubt as required at law,” said Muvengi.
He encouraged the public to gather substantial evidence before reporting cases as that would be ease to convict suspects.
“People supposed to try and gather enough evidence and report to build stronger cases so that we can easily prosecute and punish offenders and scare would-be offenders,” said Muvengi.
Masvingo United Residents and Ratepayers Alliance (MURRA) board chairperson Thomas Mbetu emphasized the critical need for community monitoring mechanisms, highlighting several systemic gaps.
“There are gaps that include that services don’t always reach the people. Limited government capacity to monitor every facility. Communities often lack data on their entitlements and budgets. Absence of health workers. Informal or ‘under-the-table’ payments. Poor quality of care and wasted resources,” said Mbetu.
He explained that community monitoring bridged a gap where it brings the ‘eyes and ears’ of the end-users directly into the system.
“Government systems are often overstretched. This creates a gap between policy on paper and reality on the ground. This is where communities and CSOs step in, acting as a critical feedback loop to ensure resources and services actually reach those who need them,” said Mbetu.
Mbetu outlined the role of communities and Civil Society Organizations in gathering evidence through various methods including Citizen Report Cards and Community Scorecards to quantify user satisfaction, tracking health facility performance using checklists, expenditure tracking to follow money from central budget to local health centers, and utilizing technology through mobile apps and SMS platforms for real-time reporting.
Residents shared their daily struggles with the health system and several women recounted being forced to bring excessive quantities of maternity supplies that far exceeded what was needed for delivery, with leftovers allegedly being sold to other expecting mothers.
Another resident highlighted the coercion patients face, stating that they were being ill treated for not buying preparation from nurses.
“If you do not buy these preparations from them, you are guaranteed to be ill-treated throughout your stay at the hospital. Your well-being becomes secondary to their business interests,” said one woman.
A woman living with a disability revealed how government policies meant to protect vulnerable groups often backfire on them.
“We do not pay because of the government policy, but that is becoming a significant challenge. We are treated as second-class citizens because we don’t pay. The care we receive is often substandard and neglectful,” said the participant
