Zimbabwe government has become masters at making abysmal failure appear glamorous

Tendai Ruben Mbofana

Watching the news on state-controlled television this evening, I was struck by the dissonance between the reality on our streets and the polished propaganda emanating from the screen. 

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A deputy minister of primary and secondary education was officiating at the launch of a school feeding scheme. 

There was a palpable sense of pride in the presentation, a calculated effort to package this initiative as a crowning achievement of state benevolence and a testament to the government’s unwavering commitment to the welfare of our children. 

But as the cameras panned over the carefully choreographed event, I could not help but wonder if we are being asked to applaud the very entity that created the crisis in the first place.

The statistics surrounding the welfare of Zimbabwean children are not merely grim; they are a national indictment. 

An estimated 3.5 million of our children require urgent humanitarian assistance. 

Roughly 75 percent of those between the ages of 6 and 23 months live in food poverty, deprived of a diverse, essential diet. 

Even more devastating is the fact that approximately 580,000 of our youngest citizens endure severe food poverty, consuming fewer than two food groups daily, a condition that increases their risk of life-threatening malnutrition by 50 percent. 

With 27 percent of children under five suffering from chronic malnutrition and the permanent cognitive and physical stunting that follows, we are effectively watching the slow-motion destruction of our future generation.

To celebrate a feeding scheme without addressing why these children are starving is the ultimate act of political gaslighting. 

Hunger does not occur in a vacuum; it is the direct, inevitable consequence of an economy systematically hollowed out by decades of mismanagement. 

When 85 percent of the population lives in general poverty and nearly half subsists in extreme poverty, the state is not a provider; it is an accomplice to destitution. 

Millions of our citizens earn below the $6.85 per day per person threshold—which means a salary of at least $1,274 a month for a family of six is required to move someone out of poverty. 

Even when we look at the government’s own Total Consumption Poverty Line, which covers only the most basic nutritional needs, a family of six requires $302.40 per month.

​Yet, it is common to encounter civil servants who take home a monthly salary of just $190 after deductions. 

When the state pays its own workers a wage so far below its own poverty datum line, it is not a provider; it is an accomplice to destitution.

When a teacher or a nurse—the very backbone of our society— cannot even cover the most basic nutritional needs of a family we are witnessing a systemic failure, not a temporary setback.

Zimbabwe is a nation of immense natural wealth, yet we are ranked as the ninth-poorest country in the world for extreme poverty and hold the dubious distinction of being the third-most unequal nation globally. 

We sit alongside countries defined by active, raging civil wars, or prolonged crises—such as South Sudan, Madagascar, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo—despite having no such conflict on our soil. 

The tragedy of Zimbabwe is entirely manufactured. 

It is the result of gross incompetence and a culture of corruption so pervasive that the country consistently ranks among the most corrupt 25 nations on Earth.

In the 2025 Corruption Perceptions Index, Zimbabwe was ranked 158th out of 180 countries, with a dismal score of 21 out of 100. 

The contrast between the halls of power and the reality of the average citizen is sharp enough to draw blood. 

While mothers watch their children waste away from malnutrition and pensioners struggle to survive on a monthly pittance of $50, those in the inner circles of the ruling elite display a grotesque, unapologetic opulence. 

We see the parade of high-end luxury vehicles and private jets, and we witness the obscene spectacle of state-aligned figures gifting cars and cash to cheerleaders and influencers. 

This is not the fruit of innovation or hard work; it is the byproduct of a patronage system built on inflated, no-bid public tenders awarded to a small, parasitic clique.

These so-called businesspeople are merely extensions of the political apparatus. 

They exist only because they hold the keys to the state coffers. 

They rely on the survival of the current regime for their very existence, which explains the desperate, frantic push for constitutional amendments designed to extend the shelf life of the present administration. 

For this small group, the country is not a nation to be built; it is a trough to be drained. 

Let’s remember that none of these tenderpreneurs are legitimate businessmen; as such they would fall into poverty the moment the tenders stop.

They thrive on the misery they create, knowing that as long as the populace is preoccupied with the daily struggle for a loaf of bread, the consolidation of their power remains unchallenged.

When the government stands before the cameras to unveil a feeding scheme, they are not offering a solution; they are offering a distraction. 

They are attempting to frame the symptoms of their governance as an act of grace. 

We must refuse to accept this narrative. 

A school feeding scheme is not a success story—it is a confession of systemic bankruptcy. 

It is a tacit admission that the government has failed to create an economy where parents can afford to feed their own children.

As long as these few people remain in power, our children will continue to starve, our mothers will continue to die in underfunded and under-resourced hospitals, and we will continue making a living along pavements and streets.

​This is certainly nothing to celebrate.

There is nothing glamorous about a state that keeps its people on the brink of starvation, and there is certainly nothing to celebrate in the crumbs they occasionally throw our way. 

We are a resource-rich nation being held hostage by a leadership that has mastered the art of making failure look like progress, while our children pay the ultimate price.

• Tendai Ruben Mbofana is a social justice advocate and writer. To directly receive his articles please join his WhatsApp Channel on: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VaqprWCIyPtRnKpkHe08