SECTION 7 of the Public Finance Management Act obliges the minister of finance to develop and implement a sound macroeconomic and fiscal policy for Zimbabwe. It also obliges him to ensure that full and transparent accounts are presented from time to time to parliament indicating the current and projected state of the economy, the public resources of Zimbabwe and the fiscal policy of Zimbabwe. The minister’s management of public finances is anchored in section 298 of the constitution which defines principles of public financial management.
Section 298 demands that there must be transparency and accountability in financial matters. It demands that public finances must be directed towards national development. It demands that public funds must be expended transparently, prudently economically and effectively.
Most importantly, it demands that the burden of taxation must be shared fairly. Section 298 therefore creates the basis of a Democratic Developmental State in its thrust and emphasis. It creates an ideological compass that defines the parameters of public finance.
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Any budget therefore must meet the constitutional principles defined in the constitution. It must have as its fulcrum the binding principles of democratic and equitable management of the public coffers. On November 27, 2025, the minister of finance Mthuli Ncube presented the 2026 national budget to the National Assembly.
He also presented a Public Debt Report and the Medium Debt Management Strategy 2026-2030. There is no question that the budget presented and its accompanying documents do not pass the constitutional test. It’s a potpourri of self-serving deception, mendacity and opaqueness.
It is budget alien to the developmental and transparency thrust demanded by the constitution. Its revenue proposals are narcissistic and anti-people. It is an ideologically vacuous ritual that confirms and entrenches the deep capture of this regime by the cartels and mafia that have also taken over Zanu PF.
It frighteningly confirms the existence of a parallel state and its parallel government. The budget projects a 6.6 percent GDP growth rate in 2025 that will push the country’s nominal GDP to US$52.4 billion from US$44.5 billion and US$45.7 billion in 2023 and 2024 respectively. The per capita Gross National Income is now US$3,200.
The World Bank defines the per capita GNI of an upper middle income country from US$4,496 to US$13,900. Thus lo and behold Zimbabwe will achieve Emmerson Mnangagwa’s vision of an upper middle income country by 2030, long before 2030. The average ordinary Zimbabwean in Dotito or Chiendambuya knows that this is not a $52 billion dollar economy. Mai Ezra in Chidyamakuni Village knows that her GNI is nowhere near US$3,200.
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