Restoration of Human Rights (ROHR) Zimbabwe

Restoration of Human Rights Zimbabwe (ROHR) is perturbed by the massive plunder of the Aids Levy Fund by the National Aids Council (NAC) when thousands of HIV/Aids patients are dying and 400 000 more are in dire need of anti-retroviral drugs. The Herald reported last week that NAC collected over US$ 1.7 million from levies since February this year and only US$20,000 was used to purchase anti-retroviral drugs. The Government policy states that 50% of the Aids Levy should be spent on drugs.  

In 1999 the government introduced an AIDS levy on all taxpayers to fund the work of the NAC. The 3 per-cent AIDS levy that is deducted from the workers’ hard earned salaries should automatically make them the important stakeholders of the fund, with full rights to inquire about the way it is managed to hold NAC accountable. 

The NAC has also been constrained by poor management and lack of resources since its formation in 1999 and at a time when the country is grappling with calamities caused by HIV/AIDS, it is appalling that state institutions are finding solace in squandering critical funds on luxury vehicles and channeling funds to electoral and quasi-fiscal activities funded by the central bank. Zimbabwe is in need of a visionary leadership which equitably distributes resources across the entire socio-economic and political realm of this country rather than aggrandizements of narrow personal interests. 

The government has a prerogative role of ensuring people living with HIV/AIDS are given adequate medication and ensuring that the country works towards the realisation of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) which calls upon all countries to ensure that they strive towards reducing HIV/AIDS infections and access to medication for those living with the same by half. 

ROHR Zimbabwe strongly believes that development depends on good governance and respect for people’s rights. As the country is in need of aid from the international community to combat the AIDS pandemic, it is incumbent upon the leaders to exercise high level transparency and accountability to foster donor confidence in the handling of public funds. Mismanagement of tax payers’ money on the part of National Aids Council sends wrong signals to potential funders on the state institutions’ capacity to exercise corporate governance. We call for an audit and an investigation in the operations of NAC and if there is abuse of public funds, the law should make the culprits in the scandal accountable. 

Also of concern is our observation that all relevant stakeholders are disenfranchised by the absence of a meaningful interface with the NAC or any other legal body that responds to their enquiries be it on a single or collective basis. When it comes to demanding that workers, who are the bosses of the levy, have a say in the way the money is managed, we inevitably begin talking about their rights being throttled in so far as they are ignored. Therefore there is an urgent need for the establishment of such an interface to facilitate the restoration of this right in the form of a truly independent Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC) through which all stakeholder voices are channeled.  

It is our considered view as ROHR Zimbabwe that ZACC, and all other commissions to be established should be independent, free from political influence, composed of qualified and competent personnel and well resourced to be able to effectively create checks and balances, promote and protect people’ rights and freedoms.  

From the information Department of Restoration of Human Rights (ROHR) Zimbabwe