Southern African leaders decided at a summit last Tuesday that Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe and his opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai should form a unity government by next month to end the political crisis.
But analysts remain skeptical that such a government could stand the strain given the deep personal animosity and mistrust between the two rivals — and hopes of an instant opening of donor financial taps remain dim.
More than two months after the United Nations' Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) launched its consolidated donor appeal for Zimbabwe, just over 12 percent of the humanitarian projects for 2009 have found takers.
While the cost of the humanitarian effort has been revised upwards from about US$550 million at the launch of the appeal on November 19 last year to US$567 million, a mere 12.7 percent of the projects amounting to just over US$72 million had received funding as of January 27.
Save for a couple of food aid and cholera relief commitments amounting to US$72.4 million, most donors have chosen to withhold their funding until there is clear direction on political developments.
Latest OCHA figures, in fact, show that almost 50 percent of the current commitments (about US$34.9 million) are food aid funds carried over from 2008 while another 43 percent is a US30.5 million contribution to the World Food Programme (WFP) by the United States.
The rest are small donations to WFP and the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) by individuals and countries such as Botswana, Japan, United Kingdom, South Korea, Greece, Russia, Finland and Estonia.
Respected Harare-based economist John Robertson said besides the effects of the unfolding political crisis, Zimbabwe's problems in accessing donor funding have been worsened by the current global financial crisis.
Most donors have decided that Zimbabwe is not worthy of support because the government is not willing to take positive action to change the situation in the country, Robertson said.
He said a more permanent solution to Zimbabwe's economic and humanitarian crises lay in reviving agricultural production and bringing back viability to local industry.
More than half of the 2009 donor appeal is for food aid in the former British colony once touted as the breadbasket of southern Africa.
In a statement last Thursday, the WFP said that a total seven million Zimbabweans or more than half of the country's total population of about 12 million people will require food aid beginning this month.
Critics blame President Robert Mugabe's economic and social policies for the mess in the country, particularly his controversial decision to compulsorily acquire productive commercial farms from whites in 2000 and reallocating the land to his supporters.
The move immediately triggered a free-fall in agricultural and industrial output as well as a humanitarian crisis highlighted by food shortages, runaway inflation, high unemployment and an unprecedented flight of economic refugees into the region.
The apparent donor fatigue has prompted frantic calls for assistance from aid agencies as Zimbabwe's humanitarian crisis worsens.
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) warned two weeks ago that it would be forced to stop cholera relief activities in Zimbabwe unless additional funds are found within the next three weeks.
The IFRC's Zimbabwe cholera appeal was launched on December 23 last year, calling for 10.2 million Swiss francs or US$9.2 million.
The appeal is however about 60 percent under-funded, the organisation said.
As it stands now, we won’t be able to continue our operations beyond the next four weeks, head of the IFRC team in Zimbabwe, Tony Maryon, said.
The IFRC warning came as the World Health Organisation reported an upsurge in death toll and prevalence of cholera cases.
Close to 3 000 people have died from the usually treatable disease since the outbreak started in August 2008 while about 50 000 cases have been recorded.
Similar pleas came from the WFP and British charity Save the Children.
A US$140 million WFP aid appeal for Zimbabwe has flopped, with the UN agency warning it would cuts in rations to starving Zimbabweans for most of this year unless funding is sourced.
WFP launched an international appeal in October for funds to feed more than five million people in the crisis-stricken southern African country.