Tendai Ruben Mbofana
Faced with the visible collapse of public service delivery, from uncollected refuse piling high on urban streets to dry water taps and under-resourced public health centers, those in authority are increasingly peddling privatization as a panacea.
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The argument presented to the public is deceptively simple: because local authorities and public institutions have dismally failed to manage waste or deliver clean water, private entities should be handed total control of these sectors.
The high-profile introduction of arrangements like the Geo Pomona waste deal in Harare, and its attempted expansion into other municipalities, serves as a stark manifestation of this ideology.
Yet, surrendering social utility management to commercial corporate interests carries severe, dangerous implications for ordinary citizens and fundamentally threatens the social contract.
We must exercise extreme caution not to stop demanding accountability from public authorities in exchange for exploitative capitalism.
There is a deeply rooted reason why social and public services have, the world over, traditionally remained under direct state management and public stewardship.
Fundamentals such as clean water provision, municipal waste management, public health, and basic education are not mere commodities to be traded on a balance sheet.
They are fundamental rights that must be guarded zealously for every citizen.
While private players certainly operate in these sectors, the primary, non-negotiable legal and moral mandate rests squarely on the shoulders of the state.
It is the government’s duty to guarantee that these services remain universally available and financially accessible to all citizens, regardless of socioeconomic standing.
Therefore, when the state or its local government institutions fail in their mandate, citizens must never support the outright privatization of these essential public goods.
Private entities operate on a commercial mandate designed fundamentally to generate profit.
While private firms may indeed demonstrate better operational efficiency or technological capabilities than state institutions crippled by incompetence, political interference, mismanagement, and corruption, their services inevitably carry price tags that ordinary citizens cannot sustain.
Consider the terrifying precedent this sets across other sectors.
Imagine if, after decades during which the state dismally failed to equip public hospitals with essential medications and lifesaving equipment, or neglected public schools by leaving them without basic textbooks and science facilities, government decided to privatize every public school and hospital in the country.
Even if healthcare facilities and educational institutions were to become impeccably resourced and state-of-the-art under private ownership, how many ordinary Zimbabweans could afford the fees?
The vast majority of the population would immediately be priced out, triggering legitimate public outcry that basic human needs had been rendered elitist privileges.
That exact risk is why public and social services are retained under public jurisdiction.
Private corporations can legitimately enter the market to complement public delivery or compete alongside state enterprise, as seen in healthcare and education.
Such market participation can spur innovation and force local authorities to improve their standards.
However, privatizing entire social service sectors is deeply irresponsible and anti-people.
In refuse collection and water distribution, commercial monopolies remove the safety net for low-income residents.
When private operators charge millions of dollars monthly—such as in Harare where Geo Pomona reportedly costs municipal coffers upwards of US$2.5 million each month—these heavy financial obligations are inevitably passed down to already impoverished ratepayers.
Such exorbitant costs push basic services entirely out of reach for the majority, effectively stripping them of their character as social services altogether.
What remains imperative is for citizens to continuously monitor, challenge, and hold those in authority accountable to ensure they meet acceptable service delivery standards.
Surrendering state duty in the expectation that private enterprise will solve public failure is an unacceptable surrender of civic rights.
We must courageously expose corruption, financial opacity, and incompetence within our public institutions, demanding uncompromised performance.
Public services belong in the hands of a responsible, accountable state, and we cannot permit government to abdicate its core duties to the people.
- Tendai Ruben Mbofana is a social justice advocate and writer. Please feel free to contact him on +263715667700 or mbofana.tendairuben73@gmail.com