THE ZIMBABWE
PEACE PROJECT
SOCIAL GRANTS
In April, government pledged to pay ZWL180 (about
US$5.00 at prevailing exchange rate at the time) a month to
one million households left vulnerable by COVID-19
restrictions on business operations.
Later that month, Finance Minister, Mthuli Ncube claimed he
had used a “sophisticated algorithm” to choose beneficiaries
of the funds.
ZPP conducted a survey countrywide and confirmed that in
some communities in Mashonaland Central and West,
Midlands and Matabeleland South and North provinces,
people had randomly received the money via their mobile
money wallets. The distribution was not systematic, and
even though the amounts were far from being adequate to
provide the needed social cover, they were disbursed in
such a random manner that they did not serve the purpose
as many were left out.
On 26 July 2020, government, for the second time,
announced plans to pay ZW$ 300 a month to a million
households left vulnerable by COVID-19.
Whilst the amounts were as little as USD3.00, the model of
distribution of the grants was this time, never publicized,
and the number of beneficiaries remains unknown, and
government has not acquitted itself on this issue. There has
been no feedback from government on how they utilized
the funds and donations received from other countries and
development partners.
Again, ZPP conducted surveys using its national network of
community based human rights monitors in all
constituencies and some districts, and discovered that just
as in the first disbursements, some people confirmed
receiving money while others did not.
ZPP continues to seek answers from government on how
they distributed the funds, and how they utilized the
COVID-19 donations that were pledged by various local,
regional and international development partners and were
due to be distributed via government.
Transparency is a hallmark of democracy and good
governance and government is still to exhibit such.
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