HOSPITALS TURNED INTO GOLDMINES FOR MNANGAGWA’S FRIENDS
Something very strange is happening in Zimbabwe. Our hospitals are collapsing. People are dying from simple diseases that can be treated anywhere else. There are no medicines. The doctors and nurses are tired, underpaid, and struggling to survive. The whole health system is broken. But instead of fixing it for the people, Emmerson Mnangagwa and his friends are using it to make money. Big money. Almost US$1 billion is now at stake in health tenders, and all the biggest contracts are going to people close to him.
It all started with a Facebook post. Youth Minister Tinoda Machakaire wrote that he had visited a hospital and was heartbroken by what he saw. He said the situation was terrible and begged the President to visit the hospitals himself to witness the suffering. Many people praised him, saying he was brave and honest. But some of us knew better. That post was not a random act of concern. It was a setup.
Soon after that post, Mnangagwa began touring hospitals. He went to Parirenyatwa, Sally Mugabe Hospital, and NatPharm. The cameras followed him everywhere. People thought he was finally doing something good. But behind those smiles and photo sessions, something darker was happening. Secret deals were being made — billion-dollar contracts already planned long before the visits. These were not meant to help the sick or improve the hospitals. They were meant to reward his friends and business allies.
One of those friends is Wicknell Chivayo. He somehow got a massive US$437 million contract to supply cancer machines and equipment. His company, TTM Global, was only a few months old. It was registered in South Africa and is linked to Chivayo’s expensive penthouse in Sandton, Johannesburg. The deal was not advertised. No one else was allowed to bid. It was a private arrangement made in secret. That is not how government contracts are supposed to work. It is corruption in broad daylight.
Another deal came from Belarus after Mnangagwa met with President Lukashenko. They agreed on a US$300 million project to modernise hospitals and supply medicines and equipment. But again, the people around Mnangagwa were the biggest winners. Businessman Kudakwashe Tagwirei, one of his closest allies, is said to be the main adviser on the project. He did not even travel to Belarus, but his influence is everywhere. Just days after Machakaire’s Facebook post, Mnangagwa’s inner circle held a meeting in Harare to plan how to fund these massive deals.
Then there is Tempter Tungwarara, another friend of Mnangagwa. His company, Prevail International, got a contract to renovate hospitals without any open tender. The company has no real track record outside government projects, yet it keeps getting big jobs. Tungwarara lives a luxurious life and has been accused of fraud and unpaid debts, but that doesn’t matter. Mnangagwa even gave him a diplomatic passport. His company is also behind the new State House wall, which cost an unbelievable US$15 million, and many other inflated government projects.
These men are not fixing hospitals. They are using the nation’s pain to fill their pockets. Patients are dying in filthy wards with no medicine while the powerful get richer. The poor cannot even afford painkillers, but the ruling elite are building mansions and buying new cars from stolen money. The health system has become a goldmine for those close to power.
The sad truth is that our health sector has turned into a business — a corrupt business. Instead of saving lives, Mnangagwa’s government is selling them. There is no transparency, no accountability, and no shame. What we are witnessing is not leadership; it is theft disguised as development.
The people are suffering, but the rulers are smiling, signing secret deals, and flying abroad for treatment. This is why we must keep speaking out. Zimbabwe’s hospitals belong to the people, not to a handful of greedy men. If we stay silent, this daylight robbery will never stop. We must fight back, because our lives depend on it.
