HUMAN rights doctors have written to government demanding information on how much money has been collected from the sugar tax and if it has been used for the intended purposes.
In a recent letter addressed to the Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion ministry information officer, the Zimbabwe Association of Doctors for Human Rights (ZADHR) said it was requesting the information in terms of section 7 of the Freedom of Information Act [Chapter 10:33].
The rights doctors’ lawyers Kantor & Immerman wrote to Treasury: “(We request) an account of how much special surtax on sugar content in beverages has been collected from the date of gazetting of SI 16/24, the Customs and Excise (Tariff) (Amendment) Notice, 2024 (No 5) on February 9, 2024, to date.
“(We request) an account of what cancer drugs and equipment have been procured to date and to which hospitals these have been distributed.”
Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion permanent-secretary George Guvamatanga acknowledged receipt of the doctors’ letter and promised to respond.
“I refer to the above captioned. I write this letter in terms of section 7(2) of the Freedom of Information Act [Chapter 10:33] (the Act) I acknowledge that your request in terms of section 7(1) of the Act was received by my office on November 25, 2024,” he wrote to the lawyers.
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“You shall be furnished with my response within the timelines prescribed by law.”
In the 2024 national budget, Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion minister Mthuli Ncube last November proposed tax on high sugar content beverages, saying the revenue generated would go towards the creation of a cancer fund.
He introduced the tax at US$0,02 per gramme of sugar in a refreshment beverage, which he later revised to US$0,002 after complaints by manufacturers and the figure will be slashed to US$0,0005 with effect from January 1, 2025.
However, the government is yet to release the actual figures that have been collected to date, but reports in July indicated that since the tax kicked in in February this year, authorities had collected over US$8 million.
“I am glad to say that the Finance ministry has confirmed there is US$8 million now available for us to utilise,” Mombeshora said according to media reports in July.
“This is going to target procurement of cancer treatment machines and cancer treatment supplies and drugs.”
Two months down the line in September, Ncube told legislators in Parliament that government had collected US$18 million from the sugar tax.
“Madam Speaker, special tax of beverages with sugar content for the first quarter amounted to ZiG7,9 million, cumulative collections to date amounted to ZiG248,9 million which is equivalent to about US$18 million,” the Finance minister said while responding to written questions from Emkhandeni-Luveve legislator Discent Bajila.
“Treasury is in the process of working on modalities to join in with the Health minister for the procurement of cancer machines and drugs for distribution in our hospitals.
“We are working speedily with the Health and Child Care ministry through the procurement processes so that we can acquire these machines and drugs as soon as possible,” he said.